In Short Measures — Michael Ruhlman

In his three novellas, "In Short Measures," "Strong Conspirators," and "Sally Forth," Michael Ruhlman delves deeply into the nuanced complexity of romantic and sexual love -- and the inevitable evolution of the heart over the span of years and decades.

Each novella asks questions about the nature of love in terms of loyalty and fidelity -- what are one's obligations toward one's spouse, one's family, and one's heart? In the first novella, "In Short Measures," these questions are bound up in a writer's work and a long-ago love. In the second, "Strong Conspirators," an unforeseen, cataclysmic event calls for responses from a husband and wife that have never been rehearsed because they have never been required nor even imagined. In "Sally Forth," a pair of old friends is forced to explore lost youth and lost love relative to maturity, marriage, and the passage of time.

Profoundly thought-provoking and satisfying, these novellas are beautifully written with plot twists from beginning to end that will captivate the reader.