Willow Temple: New and Selected Stories

A contemplative selection of twelve short stories from the celebrated author Donald Hall, Willow Temple focuses on the effects of divorce, adultery, and neglect. Hall's stories are reminiscent of those of Alice Munro and William Maxwell in their mastery of form and their ability to trace the emotional fault lines connecting generations. "From Willow Temple" is the indelible story of a child's witness of her mother's adultery and the loss that underlies it. Three stories present David Bardo at crucial junctures of his life, beginning as a child drawn to his parents' "cozy adult coven of drunks" and growing into a young man whose intense first affair undergirds a lifelong taste for ardor and betrayal. In this superbly perceptive collection, Hall gives memorable accounts of the passionate weight of lives.

"...[T]his is a first-rate work by an author whose control over the tools of his genre is impeccable." Publishers Weekly

"Hall is a master of the patterns we only see when looking back." --Susan Salter Reynolds Los Angeles Times

"Like Thomas Hardy...Hall balances on sorrow's edge by virtue of an old-fashioned rigor; he never slips into self-pity on one side or sentimentality over the past on the other..." --Matthew Flamm The New York Times Book Review