The Souvenir Museum: Stories

LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD

Award-winning author Elizabeth McCracken is an undisputed virtuoso of the short story, and this new collection features her most vibrant and heartrending work to date

In these stories, the mysterious bonds of family are tested, transformed, fractured, and fortified. A recent widower and his adult son ferry to a craggy Scottish island in search of puffins. An actress who plays a children's game-show villainess ushers in the New Year with her deadbeat half brother. A mother, pining for her children, feasts on loaves of challah to fill the void. A new couple navigates a tightrope walk toward love. And on a trip to a Texas water park with their son, two fathers each confront a personal fear.

With sentences that crackle and spark and showcase her trademark wit, McCracken traces how our closely held desires--for intimacy, atonement, comfort--bloom and wither against the indifferent passing of time. Her characters embark on journeys that leave them indelibly changed--and so do her readers. The Souvenir Museum showcases the talents of one of our finest contemporary writers as she tenderly takes the pulse of our collective and individual lives.

Author: Elizabeth McCracken
Publisher: Ecco Press
Published: 04/13/2021
Pages: 256
Binding Type: Hardcover
Weight: 0.80lbs
Size: 8.30h x 5.50w x 1.10d
ISBN: 9780062971289

Review Citation(s):
Library Journal Prepub Alert 11/01/2020 pg. 64
Publishers Weekly 11/09/2020
Kirkus Reviews 01/15/2021
Booklist 02/15/2021 pg. 26
Shelf Awareness 04/20/2021