DRAMA BONDS

Bryan presents an eclectic collection of short stories set in several eras and locales, from Jamaica in the 1960s to Ontario in the 2010s.

The author describes these stories as “the manifestation of my fascination with grief and loss,” and she divides them into three sections: “Connected,” “Disconnected,” and “Reconnected.” The first section encompasses eight tales that follow several generations of a single family, tracking their migration from Jamaica to Canada across decades and continents while keeping readers firmly grounded in details. In the first story, “Soon Come,” readers meet 11-year-old Michelle, who’s busy playing jacks and contemplating her family and future in Jamaica when she meets a boy named Keith. By the fourth story, “Retreat,” readers follow Michelle and Keith’s daughter, Leslie, who’s trying to connect with a “future sister-in-law” while struggling within her own relationship. In their totality, the stories feel almost like a multigenerational novel—but before readers can get too comfortable, the second section begins, featuring stories set in their own fictional universe, with more speculative elements and spiritual realms. Readers will find the payoffs exquisite in tales of college students flying off rooftops, body-hopping science majors, haunted cabins, and cursed coins. In the final section, the author effectively steps back into the first section’s milieu. These interwoven stories skip effortlessly forward in time, like smooth stones atop a glassy lake. Although not every story is hard-hitting, all show the author’s deft skill, with the stand-alone titles holding as much significance as those in the series.

An array of raw, honest, and vulnerable tales.