Born on a Train: Thirteen Stories

Two years ago--at twenty-two--John McManus captivated writers and critics with his first story collection and became the youngest recipient of the Whiting Writers Award. Now McManus returns with a collection of stories equally piercing and visionary: stories about the young and old, compromised by circumstance and curiosity, and undergoing startling transformations. In "Eastbound," a car driven by two elderly sisters breaks down on an elevated highway: Beneath them lies the lost country of the South, overrun with concrete and shopping centers but still possessing the spectres and secrets of the past. In "Brood," a plucky young heroine moves with her mother into the home of the mother's online boyfriend: She will use the Audubon Guide to Birds, and her own wits to survive the advances of the boyfriend's teenaged son. In "Cowry," two backpackers in New Zealand race to witness the first sunrise of the twenty-first century.

Author: John McManus
Publisher: Picador USA
Published: 03/01/2003
Pages: 288
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.52lbs
Size: 8.40h x 5.50w x 0.72d
ISBN: 9780312301859

Review Citation(s):
Kirkus Reviews 12/01/2002 pg. 1723
Vanity Fair 03/01/2003 pg. 134
Publishers Weekly 02/24/2003 pg. 52

About the Author

John McManus's stories have appeared in the Oxford American, Tin House, and Ploughshares. He was raised in Blount County, Tennessee, and now lives in Austin, Texas.

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