Far Flung: Stories

Cameron's collection of witty and insightful stories reveals individuals seeking love, stability, and acceptance

The characters in Far-Flung, Peter Cameron's second story collection, face a familiar dilemma: They aspire to happiness but are trapped in difficult lives not of their choosing. In "Just Relax," a young woman jaded by attempts to travel (and save) the world returns home to become a Pilgrim reenactor in a theme park. In "Not the Point," a mother tries to connect with her teenage son after his twin brother's suicide. And in "The Secret Dog," a man stuck in a futile marriage dreams up a loyal, affectionate, and completely imaginary compensatory pet .

Whether trapped in the flat, bleak fields of rural Indiana, in a lonely walk-up in New York City, or in their own heads, the characters of Far-Flung are all deftly handled with the compassion and humor that mark Cameron's best work.