His entry begins:Right now, I'm on something of a Hungarian fiction binge. Presently I am reading Peter Nadas's ambitious and challenging Parallel Stories. This comes on the heels of a Gyula Krudy collection from NYRB titled The Adventures of Sindbad. I have another Krudy novel on-deck, Sunflower, again from NYRB. The impetus for all of this is that some years ago, I became infatuated, like one of the characters in my own new novel The Realm of Last Chances, with the work of...[read on]About The Realm of Last Chances, from the publisher:
In a captivating departure from the Deep South setting of his previous fiction, Steve Yarbrough now gives us a richly nuanced portrait of a marriage being reinvented in a small town in the Northeast, in his most surprising and compelling novel yet.Learn more about the book and author at Steve Yarbrough's website.
When Kristin Stevens loses her administrative job in California’s university system, she and her husband, Cal, relocate to Massachusetts. Kristin takes a position at a smaller, lessprestigious college outside Boston and promptly becomes entangled in its delicate, overheated politics. Cal, whose musical talent is nothing more than a consuming avocation, spends his days alone, fixing up their new home. And as they settle into their early fifties, the two seem to exist in separate spheres entirely. At the same time, their younger neighbor Matt Drinnan watches his ex-wife take up with another man in his hometown, with only himself to blame. He and Kristin, both facing an acute sense of isolation, gravitate toward each other, at first in hope of a platonic confidant but then, inevitably, of something more. The Realm of Last Chances provides us with a subtle, moving exploration of relationships, loneliness and our convoluted attempts to reach out to one another.
Writers Read: Steve Yarbrough.
--Marshal Zeringue
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