Author(s): Jennifer Down

Fiction

It was a hot summer, then it was a hot fall. Thursdays were Lux's night off. We went swimming in the Merced. I have this picture in my head of her, hair dripping wet towel draped over her shoulders and tied under her chin like a superhero's cape; pale thighs, legs like two young shoots, hiking boots. In Coarsegold, California, Joanna conducts an illicit affair while her girlfriend, a recovering addict, struggles to rebuild her life. In a country town along the Murray River in Victoria, Foggo rules a gang of bored, cruel boys. In Sheffield, two sisters reconnect after many years apart. And in Yamanashi, on the slopes of Mount Fuji, a young Australian woman makes a pilgrimage to the Sea of Trees to honour her brother. Jennifer Down's writing brims with energy. In these stories, she picks apart moments of love and loss with an unwavering focus and emotional clarity that will leave you floored. Book jacket.