Exit, Pursued by a Bear

In Exit, Pursued by a Bear, art-particularly the visual arts-is a unifying and simultaneously expansive theme, from Intention's grieving portraitist to the artists and female caregivers who wander the paths of Solstice in the Jardin du Luxembourg. Winner of Prize Americana, these stories from Jacqueline Kolosov shore up against the inevitability of loss, illness, death, addiction, and ruptures in intimacy-a testament to the art that doth mend nature from The Winter's Tale. If the bear of that late Shakespearean romance both upends and galvanizes the plot, then the horses, dogs, and ravens of this story collection act as companions, teachers, and even spirit guides to the human beings, each and every one bruised and damaged-but also shining.