{"product_id":"9780873517874","title":"Keepsakes \u0026 Other Stories","description":"\u003cp\u003eFrom Publishers Weekly\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese 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.)\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Minnesota Historical Society Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47018237788400,"sku":"9780873517874","price":19.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780873517874_p0.jpg?v=1763846452","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780873517874","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}