Our Former Lives in Art — Jennifer Davis

Set against the backdrop of the Deep South, these nine haunting stories explore big themes -- authenticity, the relinquishing of childhood, the acceptance of dreams lost -- in a way that ultimately affirms the act of living and the value of human relationships. In "Giving Up the Ghost," a man sits beside a fatal car wreck to share the last moments of a stranger's life. In "Witnessing," a young woman befriends her lover's ailing wife. In "Rapture," a housewife's unexpected romantic encounter during a tornado rocks her tidy suburban existence.

How do we become who we are? And what makes us love one another? With empathy, wit, and beautiful language, Davis blends the real and the imagined to create a kaleidoscope of the human heart.