The Edge of Marriage: Stories.

Athens, GA University of Georgia Press, 1999. Hardcover First Edition [1999]; First Printing indicated. First Edition [1999]; First Printing indicated. Very Good+ in Very Good+ DJ: Both book and DJ show indications of very careful use. Book shows just a touch of wear to the heel of the backstrip and the binding shows the slightest lean, while remaining perfectly secure; else flawless; text clean. DJ shows only a couple of creases at the inside front flap and the "Winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction" sticker, which is very slightly ruffled, probably from attempt to remove it, at the lower front panel; price sticker at the lower inside front flap, which of course has not been clipped; mylar-protected. Overall, remains near pristine in a handsome, if slightly flawed DJ. NOT a Remainder, Book-Club, or Ex-Library. 8vo. 176pp. Hardback with DJ. A collection of nine stories by a winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction introduces a cast of men and women on the verge of relationship disaster. For the most part I have "given up" on contemporary short story collections. So often the stories are so similar and just one or two really "hit the mark." Hester Kaplan's book has stunned me. Every story leaves me breathless. I go back to read sentences over and over. Each story has had tremendous impact on me, reached me in such profound ways. The title story is incredible for getting into a man's head in trying to deal with his wife's breakdown after the death of her closest friend. The early part of the story said better than anything I've ever read how important women are to each other in a way that is quite different from how men are with each other. I'm writing this short review in hopes that Hester Kaplan will know how wonderful I think the book is. And I'm recommending it to my friends.