The Good Life — Erin McGraw

A collection of short stories that are “at once laugh-out-loud funny and utterly serious” (Claire Messud, author of The Burning Girl).
 
“McGraw ably leavens heartbreak with humor . . . she renders quirky, refreshingly real characters -- a mediocre ballet dancer who takes in a more successful dancer's daughter; an insecure self-help author who's thrown for a loop by a visit to her parents; a disillusioned bed-and-breakfast owner who flirts with moving to Aruba; Catholic priests who have trouble living up to their vows -- on the verge of improving their lot in life. The happiness they catch glimpses of, though, frequently eludes their grasp . . . McGraw's pitch-perfect dialogue and artful closeups on the telling, trying details of ordinary lives deliver stories that are easy to read but hard to forget.” -- Publishers Weekly
 
“I love these stories about nice normal people trying -- and failing -- to cling to their fondest delusions.” -- Molly Giles, author of All the Wrong Places