In the Music Library

Winner of the seventh Drue Heinz Literature Prize for short fiction, this collection is unified by subjects relating to music and by the thematic exploration of why joy and sadness are so inextricably mixed

Winner of this year's Drue Heinz Literature Prize for short fiction, this collection of 10 short stories and one novella presents a variety of introspective characters, most of whom have suffered deep losses. A unifying theme in the stories is the way in which past adversities intrude upon the present. In "All Kinds of Flowers," a hostess entertains a German woman and is disturbed by memories of Nazi soldiers occupying her native Holland. "At St. Theresa's College for Women" introduces a music teacher who, having experienced five miscarriages, sometimes fantasizes about kidnapping her young students. Memories can be ancestral as well as personal: the black cellist who narrates "In the Music Library" tries to summon up rhythm through her residues of racial memory. Hunnicutt, author of the well-received Suite for Calliope, is herself a musician. Her evocations of the sounds and tensions of the rehearsal hall are especially vivid and she has wisely placed many of her characters in a musical milieu, adding strength to this fine collection.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.