{"product_id":"9780803271715","title":"Last Call: Stories","description":"K. L. Cook’s debut collection of linked stories spans three generations in    the life of one West Texas family. Events both tender and tragic lead to a    strange and lovely vision of a world stitched together in tenuous ways as     the characters struggle to make sense of their lives amid the shifting        boundaries of marriage, family, class, and culture.                                                                                                                                                                                       \u003cp\u003eA series of unusual incidents—a daughter’s elopement, a sobering holiday      trip, a vicious attack by the family dog, a lightning strike—provokes a       mother of five to abandon her children. An oil rigger, inspired by            sun-induced hallucinations, rescues his estranged wife, who doesn’t           appreciate his chivalry. In the wake of his father’s and brother’s deaths,    a teenage boy finds a precarious solace working with his mother at a          country-western bar. A cosmetics salesman schemes to buy Costa Rica and       flirts dangerously with mobsters in Las Vegas. A woman fleeing her fourth     marriage arrives at a complicated understanding of love and                   responsibility.                                                                                                                                                                                                                           \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eRailroad worker and conman, grieving son and battered wife—these              characters explore the limits of family fragility and resilience. Their       stories—suggesting unlikely connections between comedy and pathos, cruelty    and generosity—promise a hard-won dignity and hope.                                                                                                                                                                                       \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eK. L. Cook’s award-winning stories have appeared in numerous literary         journals and magazines, including American Short Fiction, Threepenny          Review, and Harvard Review. Cook teaches creative writing and literature      at Prescott College in Arizona.                                              \u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"UNP - Bison Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47026172526832,"sku":"9780803271715","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780803271715_p0.jpg?v=1763739794","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780803271715","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}