Matters Familiar — E.G. Fabricant

Matters Familiar is an anthology of short stories, offering 12 tales from inside complex contemporary relationships featuring parents; kids; convicts; hustlers; lawyers; politicians; and other undesirables: A small girl, suffocating in the growing culture of fear around her, struggles to take the high ground. A recently-divorced father sharing custody of his young son learns about parenting in an unlikely place--Death Row. Adrift in his own life and desperate for a belief system, a young man finds direction and purpose from a surprising source. Two brothers try to make sense of their lives after their domineering mother's death. A girls' softball team rebels and instructs parents and coaches in the value of competition. A retired cowgirl and her best friend resort to drugs, kidnapping, and interstate flight to escape the nursing home and reclaim their lives. A vignette, after infidelity was declared an Olympic sport. An amnesiac accident victim recovers more than his health among strangers in a small Southern town. Two boys, one mother; two lives, separated from birth. A top-dollar attorney complains about the bill and unwittingly becomes his plumber's Zen pupil. Worried about his sickly nephew's future, a dutiful mob soldier finds inspiration an ocean and an age away. A scandal-plagued politician contemplates suicide, but checks in with his cousin first to sort things out.