Dwight's House and Other Stories — Meredith Sue Willis

In Dwight's House and Other Stories, Meredith Sue Willis's eclecticism and layered prose release us from the moorings of "regional fiction." Written by a prize-winning member of the Appalachian Renaissance in literature, Dwight's House & Other Stories is an anthology of short stories focusing on believeable characters put in paralyzing dilemmas. These tales examine the troubling paradoxes of the human condition with sympathy and synchronicity

Willis breaks out of the narrow borders of the short story by switching among the points of view of Dwight, Elaine, frazzled Susan, and obdurate Fern. She develops the four corners of this stubborn rectangle with equal care. Although Dwight is the obvious candidate for the villain of the piece, even he is not a totally unsympathetic character. Willis nicely balances empathy with implicitly moral judgment.

Her fiction leads us by the hand into dark places, and then leaves us on our own to find our way out.