Cravings [Paperback]

Opening with “Hors d’oeuvres” and closing with a “Feast,” the stories inCravingspulse with longing, missed opportunities, recriminations, and joy. Garnett Kilberg Cohen leads readers through acutely crafted explorations of the way events shape and change our lives, sometimes for the better and sometimes in ways that haunt us forever. Love, friendship, childhood, parenthood, and leaving home—all these experiences of desire, driven by the unrelenting passage of time—form the heart of this charismatic collection. 

Kilberg Cohen’s captivating and vulnerable characters often recognize their shortcomings and past mistakes, but cannot always rise above them. One woman learns to forgive her husband’s ex; another fears her love of salty snacks caused a family tragedy. A stoic rural community drives a newcomer out of town; a young man’s entire life is colored by a traumatic childhood event at a zoo. Focusing on the specific, unforgettable moments that reveal our connections to one another, Cravings offers an expansive vision of humanity that lingers long after the final page is turned. “The characters inCravingsdemanded my full attention and my full empathy. Cohen crafts their circumstances brilliantly, revealing the moments around which the rest of their lives are tangled. Each yearns for something different, but as I turned the last page, I knew what I wanted: one more story.”—Jeff Hoffmann, author ofOther People's Children“Each story in Garnett Kilberg Cohen’s gorgeous new collection is a tour de force in subtlety and indirection. Everyday narratives become profound meditations upon how we process trauma, the indelible imprint of past experience upon the present, and the paradoxically fixed and fluid nature of memory. Philosophical, reflective, and attuned to the human spirit, these powerful tales will win your heart, and then ask you to wlS7