Midnight Magic - by Bobbie Ann Mason (Paperback)

About the Book

In this collection of Mason's best short stories, Mason moves through the lives of ordinary Kentucky people, capturing their tangled aspirations and buried disappointments as they struggle with the ironies of modern life in a traditional rural society.

Book Synopsis

A disabled trucker builds his dream house from Lincoln Logs. A recent divorcee fantasizes about time travel as she lies in a tanning booth and wishes for a future "unbounded by time and space or custody arrangements." These are a few of the people who inhabit the world of Midnigt Magic, a collection of Bobbie Ann Mason's best short fiction, featuring "Shiloh."

In her signature style, Mason moves quietly through the lives of her Kentucky characters, capturing their tangeld aspirations and buried disappointments. Men and women struggle with the ironies of modern life in a traditional rural society, trying to cope with fractured families, television evangelism, women's lib, and MTV.

With an introduction by the author especially written for this new volume, this timeless collection chronicles the perplexed lives of contemporary people as they confront our everchanging society. As one character wryly puts it, "Nobody knows anything. The answers are always changing."

Review Quotes

"Mason is a full-fledged master of the short story...her [stories are] a treasure."--Anne Tyler, "The New Republic""Finely crafted tales that manage to invest inarticulate, small-town lives with dignity and intimations of meaning."--Michiko Kakutani, "The New York Times""A gentle touch does not preclude exceptionally sharp observation; in her deft, witty and unobrusive way Mason is amazingly acute."--Alice Adams, "Chicago Sun-Times"