All's Fair and Other California Stories

Summary

In this debut collection of richly evocative short stories, writer Linda Feyder portrays a diverse group of protagonists seeking fulfillment and connection in sunny California. She sketches her characters – of different ages, genders, and classes – with pitch-perfect honesty as they reassess their identities or confront the exact moment they face the fragility of life or themselves. A teenage girl travels to California from New York for an uneasy visit with the father she hasn't seen for years. A young man is disqualified from the Naval Aeronautical program and returns to his sister's home, where he struggles with his identity. A couple moves to the California desert for the warm climate a doctor prescribes and makes an unlikely friendship with a bullied albino boy. Girlfriends working together at a horse stable realize the nature of their friendship is changing when one of them decides to pursue her first sexual experience. Kirkus Review writes: “A beautifully rendered collection from a writer to watch.”