Five Tuesdays in Winter is a collection of ten short stories written by Lily King. This was my first experience with her writing, and I really enjoyed it.
I appreciate that short stories dive right into the heart of the plot; the economy of words doesn't allow verbose prose to set the stage. Yet even with limited word counts, these stories have dimensional characters, a strong sense of place, and big emotions. Most feature adults while others focus on teens and coming-of-age experiences.
The titular story, a favorite of mine, features Mitchell, the owner of a used bookstore, his lone employee, and his teen daughter. Recently single after his wife left him, Mitchell sees his employee in a new light when she tutors his daughter on five Tuesdays in winter. All of the stories are firmly based in reality except The Man at the Door, the final story, involving an aspiring writer and a mysterious visitor at her door.
In a BookPage article, I learned that Lily King "fell in love with short stories in high school. She's been keeping journals since fifth grade ... but she didn't dream of becoming a published writer until her discovery of the short story form." The cover art for the collection is taken from a painting created by King's artist mother-in-law.
This collection was fabulous to enjoy on audio. Each story is read by a different narrator, including Mark Bramhall, Cassandra Campbell, Stacey Glemboski, Christa Lewis, and Bronson Pinchot. I'm grateful to Blackstone Publishing and Libro.fm for the advanced listening copy.
I appreciate that short stories dive right into the heart of the plot; the economy of words doesn't allow verbose prose to set the stage. Yet even with limited word counts, these stories have dimensional characters, a strong sense of place, and big emotions. Most feature adults while others focus on teens and coming-of-age experiences.
The titular story, a favorite of mine, features Mitchell, the owner of a used bookstore, his lone employee, and his teen daughter. Recently single after his wife left him, Mitchell sees his employee in a new light when she tutors his daughter on five Tuesdays in winter. All of the stories are firmly based in reality except The Man at the Door, the final story, involving an aspiring writer and a mysterious visitor at her door.
In a BookPage article, I learned that Lily King "fell in love with short stories in high school. She's been keeping journals since fifth grade ... but she didn't dream of becoming a published writer until her discovery of the short story form." The cover art for the collection is taken from a painting created by King's artist mother-in-law.
This collection was fabulous to enjoy on audio. Each story is read by a different narrator, including Mark Bramhall, Cassandra Campbell, Stacey Glemboski, Christa Lewis, and Bronson Pinchot. I'm grateful to Blackstone Publishing and Libro.fm for the advanced listening copy.
