Lesser Mountains — Andrew Geyer

The voices of these characters are raw and real, and they cry out to be heard. The interwoven stories in Lesser Mountains delve into the lives of the fictional people living in and around the small town of Jordan, Texas, in much the same way Elizabeth Strout's Olive Kittredge does for those living in Crosby, Maine. Texas settings, common themes, shared imagery, and intertwined plots combine to reveal the life arcs of everyday folks who find themselves displaced by the passing of the rural Southwest Texas way of life. The protagonists for the major plotlines are introduced in the opening story, and the subsequent narratives link the trajectories of their lives in unexpected and fascinating ways--a novelistic effect that makes the whole much more than just the sum of its parts.