The Sleep of Baby Filbertson And Other Stories — James Leo Herlihy

From James Leo Herlihy (author of Midnight Cowboy) comes a series of grim yet insightful short stories in his first collection, The Sleep of Baby Filbertson. Both an examination of the darker themes of alienation and isolation and an elevation of the oddities and quirks that make up human nature, Herlihy's seven tales tackle the anxieties of fragile people and get to the heart of a world inhabited by perennial outsiders.  

Agoraphobic Daisy Filbertson and her teenage son, Rudy, both addicted to sleeping pills, find themselves frantically running from city to city fueled by Daisy's manic insistence. A lonely mother tries to start her life over and find a new father for her daughter on an Army base. An immigrant from Uruguay writes letters to his Mamacita while he tries to find himself in the US. And a staunch Baptist has her world challenged when she meets a handsome artist.