Souvenir Museum

<p><strong>LONGLISTED FOR THE NATIONAL BOOK AWARD AND THE STORY PRIZE</strong></p><p><strong>Award-winning author Elizabeth McCracken is an undisputed virtuoso of the short story and this new collection features her most vibrant and heartrending work to date</strong></p><p>In these stories the mysterious bonds of family are tested transformed fractured and fortified. A recent widower and his adult son ferry to a craggy Scottish island in search of puffins. An actress who plays a children's game-show villainess ushers in the New Year with her deadbeat half brother. A mother pining for her children feasts on loaves of challah to fill the void. A new couple navigates a tightrope walk toward love. And on a trip to a Texas water park with their son two fathers each confront a personal fear. </p><p>With sentences that crackle and spark and showcase her trademark wit McCracken traces how our closely held desires--for intimacy atonement comfort--bloom and wither against the indifferent passing of time. Her characters embark on journeys that leave them indelibly changed--and so do her readers. <em>The Souvenir Museum </em>showcases the talents of one of our finest contemporary writers as she tenderly takes the pulse of our collective and individual lives.</p>