Bad Mothers and Other Miscreants

<p>There are a million ways to screw up at mothering. One character in Ann Bronston's hilarious heartbreaking debut collection Bad Mothers and Other Miscreants silently inserts fuck into conversations with her young children. Another secretly wishes her troubled son dead. A third fueled by religious mania visits violence upon her own child. lf these maternal crimes sound grim be assured that Bad Mothers and Other Miscreants is a joy to read. </p><p>The thirteen stories in Bad Mothers and Other Miscreants range in length from six to thirty-eight pages. Protagonists include a barmaid professor housewife nun murderer-two actually-and a WWII vet. There is a street kid with a taste for rough sex and an aging actress. Divorcees and drunks abound and children and dogs often steal the show.</p><p>Suzanne Warren reviewer Pembroke Magazine</p><p><br></p><p><strong>A collection of little gems!</strong></p><p><br></p><p>With stories that are both funny and heart-breaking Bronston draws us into the skins of her characters.</p><p class=ql-align-right>Maia Danziger</p><p class=ql-align-right>Writer and developer of Relax and Write workshops</p><p><br></p><p>Whether writing in the first person or third present tense or past about the vagaries of childhood or the ordeal from an addiction she exhibits unparalleled authority grace elegance and rigor.</p><p class=ql-align-right>David Leavitt Novelist Short Story Writer Author of <em>The Secret Life of Cranes </em>and the short story<em> Gravity among many other works</em></p><p><br></p><p><em>Eskimo Nights</em> is a story about familial betrayal merely twenty pages long yet with the density and convolutions of a short novel.</p><p class=ql-align-right>Thom Jones</p><p class=ql-align-right>National Book Award nominee Author of <em>The Pugilist at Rest</em> </p>