Casualties

  From Tortoise Books, Available online and wherever books are sold

https://tortoisebooks.com/store/casualties

STORIES

Casualties--Two rural Wisconsin teens, one Jewish, one not, face the pressures on their friendship during World War II.  

Not all the war's battles were fought overseas.

Withdrawal--An office worker hilariously staves the pangs of a failed romance by stealing his lover's cat.

Heredity--A man unwillingly faces the mother who left him in a desperate effort to save his own son.

Plainsong--A jazz singer must choose between her family or her music.

The Gift--A family faces the positives and negatives in their crazy family's legacy of foretelling death.

The Mikvah--A young woman enjoys a secret rebellion from the confinements of her religion.

Release Point--At her husband's military funeral, a grieving woman must come to grips with the truth of her marriage.

The Home Team--When her husband leaves, a woman must learn to deal with her son's disappointments--and her own.

The Difference--A teen uncovers a surprising secret and experiences an unexpected moment of personal growth.

Home Again--Wallowing in his poor choices, a college grad returns home to reconsider his future.

The First--A woman questioning her own life choices finds unexpected hope in her grandmother's dementia.

Retreat--As her world is tumbling down, a woman attends an office retreat with shocking results.

The Night My Mother Danced With Fred MacMurray--A mother's death kindles a man's memories of his parents and growing up in Depression-era Chicago.

The Medal--A family reluctantly attends a ceremony to receive a medal for their son's heroism even as they question his death.

South Shore, Chicago--A return to the old neighborhood stirs old memories and sparks an unexpected new strength.

What they're saying about Casualties:

"Whether you're a young reader searching for a way forward or an older reader reckoning with a past self who won't leave you alone, you're likely to find unexpected insights in Joyce Becker Lee's emotionally complex and superbly crafted collection."

                                   --Miles Harvey, bestselling author of The King of Confidence and The Island of Lost Maps

"We are all casualties in conflicts of some kind, we realize from reading these fine stories. . . . Lee gracefully makes it brutally clear how her characters are subject to the power of large events and institutions, reminding us that our lives are subject in the same way. These stories are compelling."

                                   --S.L. Wisenberg, author of The Wandering Womb and The Adventures of Cancer Bitch

"This collection of introspective stories acknowledges both the light and the darkness of the world in a way that leaves the reader feeling awake to the wonders and braced for impact."

                                   --Jennifer Companik, author of Check Engine and Other Stories