A Postcard for Annie

In these six stories, Ida Jessen cuts through the artifices that prop up our closest relationships, exposing the lucid truth. The voices of women and girls animate her narratives. In one, a pair of young sisters wander through their neighborhood at night, under telephone lines glazed with ice, over pavements that resemble "the darkest glass," unaware of the violence unfolding in a nearby grocery store. In another, a mother and son improvise an elaborate scheme to conceal, even from themselves, an act of brutality. Desire collides with reality, goading characters into desperate exploits or carrying them toward misguided ardor. Family life shapeshifts, becoming an embittered snare or a tender, fragile mooring. A Postcard for Annie confronts us with the cursed knowledge of the compromises we make in order to live. Sprightly and acute, Jessen uncovers the currents of rage, love, duplicity, and courage that guide out passions.