A Wall of Bright Dead Feathers

<p>Winner of the 2022 Texas Institute of Letters' Sergio Troncoso Award for Best First Book of Fiction</p><p><br></p><p>Each of the flawed fully human characters we meet in these twelve stories faces a moment of life-altering transformation. Most are newcomers to rural life whose charms they dream about even as the troubles they hoped to leave behind persist. A young pianist struggles to keep her emotionally fragile boyfriend alive; a family flees financial scandal in Houston; a displaced New Yorker's ambivalence with guns results in two fractured families. The rich history of the German-Czech region of centralTexas where the storie are set anchors the experience of two young artists who make a costly decision in 1862. The silent partner in every story is the scenic rolling landscape itself evocative of nature in all its beauty and hardship.</p>