American Falls: The Collected Short Stories

The stories in this collection range in period, style, and theme from the 1950s to the present, from absurdist to romantic, from childhood innocence to murder and revenge. In the title story, a Japanese American motel owner chooses not to betray a total stranger wanted for murder when the police come looking for him. In the novella "The Lonely and the Lost," a small town's inhabitants solve their problems as best they can until it comes time for the devil to reap what they have sown. Weaving dark and light, sinister and comic, award-winning author Gifford writes about people America has given up for lost.