Delicate Edible Birds by Lauren Groff

 

This anthology of nine stories was published in 2009.  My favorite story was Watershed where a woman finds her childhood friend when she returns to her hometown for a visit and they fall in love and marry.  Another story, Blythe, is about an author who lives to shock and who consumes everyone around her with her constant drama.  The title story, which is the last, is about a group of journalists fleeing Paris ahead of the German occupation and what they will do to survive.

Lauren Groff is one of my must reads.  She has two novels that were National Book Award finalists and an anthology that was also a finalist for that prize.  She has been nominated and shortlisted for numerous other literature prizes and a Guggenheim fellow.  Her work often details unusual situations and individuals and can end with a twist the reader doesn't see coming.  I enjoyed every story in this collection and believe most readers will as well.  This book is recommended for literary readers.