Dry Well — Marlin Barton

This collection brings together the author's twelve best stories, all set in the same small Southern community in Alabama. The world of these stories covers five generations of one particular family named Anderson, and the range in time is from 1865 to the present. These stories are about grace in the lives of ordinary men and women. The plot lines are infinitely various, but so delicate that they have eluded some of the subtlest writers. As was once said about the writing of Peter Taylor, a master of the short story, Marlin Barton's writing is as clear as a fine pane of glass. Correctly described as unobtrusive, this style is so simple and powerful that he seems scarcely to be exercising his craft. This is the perfect definition of a virtuoso. As readers will find, there is virtuosity aplenty in The Dry Well.