From Publishers Weekly
These seven gentle tales set in Minnesota and North Dakota and all
written during the 1970s treat fans of novelist Hassler (A Green
Journey; Jemmy) to the earliest fruits of his talent. Some are folksy
portraits of small-town characters, while others are drier and more plot
driven. Both the title story and "Resident Priest" feature crusty,
74-year-old Father Fogarty, a pastor who's leaving his parish after 23
years. In "Chief Larson," a seven-year-old Indian boy, known (rather
improbably) only as "chief" on the reservation, rebels in a small but
telling way against his white adoptive family. "Good News in Culver
Bend" tracks two city reporters who travel to a small town and discover
"the heart of Christmas." "Chase" and "Christopher, Moony, and the
Birds" show how frustrated residents of small towns seek solace. The
former, so brief it's nearly a prose poem, hints at Hassler's own
adolescent discovery of his talent for fiction; the latter follows a
lonely 50-year-old college professor as he goes on a consolatory walk
with a student's awkward wife and child, watching "birds on family
outings, hopping and halting on the grass." The cleverest story,
"Yesterday's Garbage," follows a "garbologist" who finds the truth about
a murder in a trash bin, and is then led to commit one himself. The
publisher plans to issue Hassler's later short fiction in three more
volumes, starting in the year 2000. (Sept.)
