Ennead

This collection brings together a cast of unflinchingly honest characters who bare their deepest longings, drawing readers in with tenderness before breaking their hearts. A hospice worker falls in love with his terminally ill, married patient, forcing him to confront the boundaries of love and morality. A 1960s debutante, desperate to preserve her social standing, defies societal expectations. An elderly mother, slipping in and out of the Lord's Prayer, recalls a lifetime of joy, sorrow, and quiet suffering. A young father faces a choice that will alter the course of his family's future on the same day that changes America forever. And a teenage girl becomes a silent witness to another's tragedy, awakening to the brutal realities of the world around her. These and other stories linger long after the final page, offering a poignant reminder that within each of us lies a quiet yearning to be seen, accepted, and truly understood.