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A Bestiary
by Christina AdamLike the richest classical paintings, these 26 short stories explore the surprises and beauty of the natural world. Read a complete short story now. Great gift!
Medieval bestiaries were instructional works gathered from the fables and tales told by travelers. They described beasts and fish and fowl that few had ever seen. For the characters in Christina Adam's Any Small Thing Can Save You, each animal that passes through their world reflects a measured truth about love---between a husband and wife, a child and a parent, a brother and sister, at a moment of danger or discovery.
Like the richest classical paintings, the entries in this engaging bestiary treat those unexpected moments when we are suddenly awakened from our daily routines, surprised and restored by the beauty of the natural world and our capacity for love within it. Any Small Thing Can Save You casts a wise eye on the kinds of simple intimacies we all long for, and on the truest opportunities for real salvation.
Artfully designed, Any Small Thing Can Save You is truly a gift.
A is for ASP
When she taught Latin in high school, her students had performed an elaborate skit that ended with the death of Cleopatra, stung by an asp. The cast found every opportunity and application for the word "asp," with Milton-like s's--that soft susurrus--hissing out into the audience, held as long as possible before the final p. Twenty years later, Helena still laughed to think of where, anatomically speaking, the Latin club had located the fatal strike, but in fact, she was terrified of snakes. When she and her husband had fixed fences on the ranch, it was the one thing she found comforting: At that altitude, there were no snakes. It was never necessary, even in tall grass and weeds, to watch where they were going.
When they retired and moved south to New Mexico, the neighbors cautioned them not to water at night, a practice that brought snakes down from the desert. They were to watch for the wedge-shaped head of a rattler, and listen for the dry, warning sound. ...
Alice Munro
There is indeed a quiet magic about it, a cumulative power. Dianne Benedict, author of Shiny Objects
. . . incredible . . . . water to a parched throat. Jim Harrison
[A book] of surpassing grace and beauty. Kim Barnes
This book is...spellbinding in its vision. Kim Barnes, author of In the Wilderness
I read this book first with curiosity and then with wonder. The prose is heartbreakingly beautiful. The simplest of acts becomes infused with meaning and affirmation. With wisdom, insight, and a hawk's eye for detail, Adam weaves the lives of animals into the lives of the men and women whose daily existence seems precariously balanced between hope and despair. This book is an uncommon gift, spellbinding in its vision.
If you liked Any Small Thing Can Save You, try these:
by Joy Williams
Published 2018
From "quite possibly America's best living writer of short stories" (NPR), Ninety-Nine Stories of God finds Joy Williams reeling between the sublime and the surreal, knocking down the barriers between the workaday and the divine.
by Elizabeth Berg
Published 2003
In this superb collection of short stories, Berg takes us into the times in women's lives when memories and events cohere to create a sense of wholeness, understanding, and change.
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