Mortal Things

<p><em>What mortal things are fleeting and what stay with us forever?</em></p><p><br></p><p>Mount Airy Philadelphia 1989. Sarah Goins a college professor with a thriving career and close-knit academic community is eager to draw her boyfriend Mike Flannagan deeper into her world. But Mike a groundskeeper at a local seminary resists instead keeping her at arm's length as he struggles to come to terms with a past haunted by loss.</p><p><br></p><p>Late one night Mike crosses paths with Domenic Gallo a neighborhood barber who has been injured in a mugging. As Mike helps the elderly man Domenic tends to his own painful history and the two strike up an unlikely friendship built around mutual understanding of each other's grief.</p><p><br></p><p>When outside forces drive Sarah and Mike further apart Sarah seeks out Domenic in an attempt to salvage her floundering relationship. Like Mike she is drawn into the world of Domenic's barbershop and the new sense of community it offers.</p><p><br></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>A series of crises and secrets threatens the fragile balance Sarah Mike and Domenic have created and soon the trio find themselves grappling with the meaning of family and class loyalty and faith. Told in alternating perspectives against the vibrant backdrop of one of Philadelphia's most distinctive neighborhoods </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Mortal Things</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> is a powerful reflection on the transient ties that can bind or break us. </span></p><p><strong><em> </em></strong></p><p><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Ned Bachus's collection of short stories </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>City of Brotherly Love</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> was awarded the 2013 Independent Publisher Award (IPPY) Gold Medal for Literary Fiction. About the book Sena Jeter Naslund author of </span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)>Ahab's Wife</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> said [My] life is variously enriched by reading Ned Bachus's superb stories. The recipient of two fellowships from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts his 2017 book</span><em style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> Open Admissions: What Teaching at Community College Taught Me About Learning</em><span style=color: rgba(0 0 0 1)> was the product of his nearly four-decade career at Community </span></p>