Amazon.com Book Description (ISBN 067941990X, Hardcover)

"Taylor is a master of the short story form....[His] is an extraordinary gift, too often absent in contemporary fiction."
THE BOSTON GLOBE
In eleven lyrical, moving, and eerie tales, and three one-act plays Pulitzer Prize-winning author Peter Taylor lays claim to a level of literary observation and feeling that is unmatched. Whether he is exploring the limitations of family and the ambivalence of identity in "Cousin Aubry," the cruel payments exacted by love forsaken in "The Witch of Owl Mountain Springs," or the strange, possibly supernatural power that love calls into play in the title novella, Peter Taylor proves once again that he is a writer of rare talent who should not be missed.

Amazon.com (ISBN 0679601775, Hardcover)

This collection features 14 stories set in the cities of the Deep South in the 1920s and 30s. The subjects are ordinary people -- families and households of the time -- caught in the extraordinary tensions of everyday life. The prose befits the topics; simple on the surface yet rich and elegant. And just because Peter Taylor, a native Southerner, has captured a time and a region in this refreshing book, doesn't mean the work will appeal only to those interested in "Southern" writers. This 1986 PEN/Faulkner Award winner is rich with the kind of material that will appeal to anyone interested in good storytelling.