In these stories of magic and memory, clustered around a resort hotel in a small Virginia community, Cary Holladay takes the reader on an excursion through the changes wrought by time on the community and its visitors. From the quiet of a rural forest to the rhythms of rock and roll, The Quick-Change Artist is at once whimsical and hard-edged, dizzying in its matter-of-fact delivery of the fantastic. Romance, a sense of place and belonging, and the supernatural—especially in the lives of children coming of age—offer windows into worlds beyond the ordinary throughout The Quick-Change Artist. In the title story, a young chambermaid is in love with a foreign magician who performs at the hotel where she works. In “Heaven,” set during the 1918 flu epidemic, a struggling mother and son rely on the support of their fortune-telling plow horse. The narrator of “Jane’s Hat” recalls a childhood enlivened by an unusual school principal and a friend who starts finding beauty everywhere. Horses and the people who love them, wanderers and those who feed them, creatures that disappear and those who search for them: these are stories with a constant heart.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
“These stories succeed wonderfully, flashing with insight and lingering in the mind long after they’re over.”—Robert Olen Butler
"These stories are strung together like pearls. They're delightful and engaging and heartfelt, with quirky characters and wonderful phrasings, such as 'supper club grief treatment.' A triumph!" --Bobbie Ann Mason
"Add my voice to the chorus of those hailing this brave new talent on the American scene. The short story is alive and well. Just open this book and see." --Richard Bausch
About the Author
A native of Virginia, Cary Holladay is the author of a novel, Mercury, and two collections of short stories, The People Down South and The Palace of Wasted Footsteps. Her awards include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Tennessee Arts Commission as well as an O. Henry Prize. Her work has appeared in New Stories from the South and many literary magazines.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Heartfelt and gorgeous,
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This review is from: The Quick-Change Artist: Stories (Paperback)
I had high expectations for this book when I purchased it, and these were all more than met. It was on my bedside table for a few days before I managed to read it - just one of the stories before bed, I thought. However, the first story is so engaging, so intriguing and poignant, that I had to keep reading. I finished the collection a few hours later, satisfied and a little emotionally raw. It's touching without being maudlin, delicate and lovely and so descriptive, so rich. The novel is spun together around an old, crumbling resort that looms in each story. It has a physical presence and it weaves its tendrils into most of the stories. Holladay manages to make mundane, ordinary occurrences fraught with wonder and delight. If you enjoy fiction with heart, with soul, you'll adore this collection.
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