Scalding and dark, these stories remind us of the price of politics, the costs we all pay, knowing and not.
The body of this book is built on hard, political stories that encompass the gentle wisdom of the ages. There is cruelty and love. War and regeneration. Rickert has long been an undiscovered master of the short story and this survey collection, including new work, will bring her to a wide, astonished audience.
Table of Contents
Memoir of a Deer Woman
Journey into the Kingdom
The Shipbuilder
Cold Fires
The Corpse Painter’s Masterpiece
The Christmas Witch
Holiday
The Chambered Fruit
The Mothers of Voorhisville
You Have Never Been Here
Cover photo “Angel” © 2015 by Emma Powell.
Reviews of Mary Rickert’s writing:
“With this tale, Rickert can build an audience that will marvel at her witchy talents.”
— Publishers Weekly
”Best of all, in a brilliant alchemical turn, Rickert transforms the lead-weight problem of indecisive identities into storytelling gold in this bewitching marvel of a book.”
— BookPage
“I’ve seldom read a book as gentle, and yet as powerful as The Memory Garden.”
— io9
“The Memory Garden is a lovely book of women, friendship, sadness and healing, and it is genuinely uplifting. Like the garden of its title, this is a book to take in slowly, to spend time in, to wander through; you’ll likely find yourselves the better for it.”
— NPR
“This is a novel haunted by mortality — with people who died young, with people now old and dying, with ghosts. But it is often a joyful novel, a novel of life, forgiveness and good meals with friends and strangers.”
— Los Angeles Review of Books
“Rickert writes with a blend of poetical language and dark suspense . . .” — Washington Post
About the Author
Mary Rickert has worked as kindergarten teacher, barista, Disneyland balloon vendor, and in the personnel department of Sequoia National Park where she spent her time off hiking the wilderness. She is the author of two collections and a novel, Locus Award winner The Memory Garden. She has a Masters of Fine Arts from Vermont College of Fine Arts and lives in Wisconsin. Find her online here.