I “discovered” Jennifer Haigh a few years ago. Since then I’ve enjoyed reading new and old novels she’s written. When I saw that she had an interconnected short story collection coming out this year, I knew I wanted to read it. News from Heaven: The Bakerton Stories looks at the lives of residents of the Pennsylvania coal-mining town of Bakerton, as well as those who have moved on, but call it home. I liked the loose connections, reading one story then realizing that another story was about that character’s sister.
It was interesting to read about the town and the people across the years as well. This is a diverse collection varying in tone (though all slightly dark and definitely more character driven than plot driven).
I’ve really come to appreciate short stories, especially ones that are connected like this, because it doesn’t feel like starting totally fresh. Baker Towers is one of Haigh’s first novels, and apparently many of the characters from that novel show up in News from Heaven. I haven’t read it yet, but I was sent it as well for my participation in this blog tour from TLC Tours and am looking forward to reading it (I think it might be the only work from Jennifer Haigh I haven’t read yet).
More about Jennifer Haigh:
Check out the podcast of bookclubgirl discussing News from Heaven with Jennifer Haigh
Jennifer’s website and Facebook
Thanks for being on the tour.