Ether

All the characters in Evgenia Citkowitz's first collection of short stories are connected by the quest for identity. Some are poised at crossroads, while others teeter on the edge of a moral precipice. In "Leavers' Events," a teenage girl awaits exam results and has a sexual encounter with a teacher that she hopes will define her. In "Sunday's Child," a middle-aged actress evicts a homeless woman from her garden which precipitates a crisis of conscience. In the title novella, "Ether," a blocked writer plagiarizes his own life with devastating consequences. These stories are startlingly original, haunting, and often very funny.