How to Get Home

From the critically acclaimed author of "Jewel," "Reed's Beach," and "A Dream of Old Leaves," comes a new collection of short stories that explores the dangers and trials of everyday life. The people in these stories come from working lives, lives where the struggle for home and family is waged daily; lives where an ominous slip of paper on the office desk or a broken glass left lying on the kitchen floor signal the precariousness of what is held dear. From diners to waiting rooms to apartment complexes, the characters in "How to Get Home" struggle with disasters. But these are the quiet disasters of life--lost jobs, divorce, illness, death. And as these characters come face to face with these calamities, and struggle to overcome them, they become real. The opening novella, "After Leston," reintroduces Jewel Hilburn, the indomitable title character from "Jewel." In this poignant story, Jewel must come to terms with the cost of moving her family to California to create a better life for her retarded daughter. In the process, she learns a lesson in love that only her sacrifice could allow her to see. "How to Get Home" is about Paul, a man just starting a job in a new town. While moving his family into this new apartment, Paul is stricken with a mysterious illness. As his world becomes confined to his dark hospital room, he realizes that life continues without him, and he begins to understand that he is not as necessary as he once believed. In "The Day After Tomorrow," a financially strapped couple decides to check into a local motel to escape an oppressive heat wave. The plan seems to work until a strange desk clerk, a broken air conditioner, and a spoiled romantic interlude in the pool shows them that, perhaps, escape is impossible.