{"product_id":"9780060840945","title":"Separate Kingdoms : Stories","description":"\u003cstrong\u003eSeparate Kingdoms\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor(s): Valerie Laken\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e“A work of daunting versatility and technical skill, the product of a writer absolutely at home in the language and working vigorously within both new and old forms.” —Michael Byers, author of \u003cem\u003eLong for this World \u003c\/em\u003eand \u003cem\u003eThe Coast of Good Intentions\u003c\/em\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFrom Pushcart Prize-winner Valerie Laken, author of \u003cem\u003eDream House\u003c\/em\u003e, comes a riveting short story collection charting the divisions and collisions between cultures and nations, families and lovers, selves and others in the United States and Russia. In the tradition of Lydia Peelle, Barbara Johnson, and David Mitchell, Laken creates incisive and illuminating portraits of characters coping with loss, estrangement, and disability, confined by their circumstances to separate kingdoms of the heart. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eReview(s):\u003cbr\u003e“[Laken] can turn out finely wrought observations on people’s miseries and bad choices like she grew up at Chekhov’s knee. But she brings some extra juice, both playful and serious, to these eight tales. . . . A national talent.”\u003cbr\u003e“Loss, temporary and permanent, physical and emotional, is the hard, gleaming thread tying together Laken’s short-story collection. . . . An absorbing literary exploration of the geography of loss.”\u003cbr\u003e“Vivid and evocative, these stories will appeal to readers of both popular and literary fiction.”\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eISBN:  9780060840945\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e ","brand":"Harper Perennial","offers":[{"title":"Paperback \/ softback","offer_id":41052424274126,"sku":"9780060840945","price":14.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0600\/7029\/7806\/products\/9780060840945.jpg?v=1648176264","url":"https:\/\/pickwickbookshop.com\/products\/9780060840945","provider":"Pickwick Bookshop","version":"1.0","type":"link"}