LAKE EFFECT

A collection exploring the untamed spaces within, between, and beyond people.

Behrman’s debut short story collection features 18 bittersweet portraits of wild girls, complicated mothers, neglected children, eccentric families, dangerous men, queer folk, and rugged landscapes. There are a few standouts in which the characters—often broken in big and small ways—seek connection with each other and the world around them. In the quietly devastating “12th and McGraw,” preternaturally close siblings Marcie and Alex find ways to care for each other within their family’s fragile ecosystem. Growing up as a pseudo-mother to Alex, Marcie watches as their dynamic shifts at the end of her disastrous pregnancy. Written in the second person, “Winter’s Barter” is about two women in the aftermath of one’s death. Speaking directly to her friend as her memories move through time, the narrator offers a beautiful portrait of a two-decade-long, but still entirely too short, friendship. “Ineffective Assistance” follows Marcie and Alex’s mother, a public defender, as she grapples with her sense of purpose. As someone who bears witness to the ways the court system can further destroy those already suffering, she’s losing hope in her ability to “bend that famous arc toward some sort of justice.” The story, which serves as an unexpected bookend to “12th and McGraw,” ends with Behrman’s signature melancholic touch. At points, a sort of sameness begins to blanket the collection; the stories begin to feel similar in tone, texture, and cadence. Despite this, Behrman masterfully crafts characters who feel believable, who garner empathy and understanding in spite of their flaws. Equally rooted in the natural and human worlds, the stories reveal the ways that healing, forgiveness, and escape can be found in the most unexpected places.

Tender, messy, and supremely human.