The Mother Garden: Stories
In surreal tales of loss and discovery, Romm explores the broken worlds of men and women surviving the death of a parent, child, or spouse, as well as the painful days leading up to their losses. The stories in Romm's second collection frequently have a hint of magic realism. In one, a long-abandoned daughter walking her dog through the desert discovers a man wrapped in a dirty sheet. Someone has tied a note to his foot that reads: This is your father. Do as you will, so she decides to take him home. In another, after the protagonist's mother dies, pathologists find dozens of colorful beads in her stomach. The daughter makes a necklace of the beads, clinging to a last, inexplicable reminder of her mother's life. Romm also depicts the effect death has on her characters' romantic relationships. Deaths that come too early and conflicts left unsettled leave characters searching, finding, and often losing again. Through it all, a combination of spare prose and fantastic events makes Romm's seemingly simple tales startling and compelling. Boyle, Katherine