Winter Stories

In Winter Stories Norwegian author Ingrid H. Rish i gives us three contemporary tales about personal resilience in the face of adversity. We meet a teenager on the run from social services with her younger halfsister and halfbrother in tow a young single mother struggling to provide adequately for her daughter and an exconvict striving to overcome personal shortcomings and build a relationship with his son. Driven by a fundamental need to secure and protect relationships with loved ones Rish is characters stumble fall and climb to their feet againeven though the deck inevitably seems to be stacked against them. Seemingly minor snags in their bestlaid plans carry the risk of undermining everything with potentially lifealtering consequences. What these stories illustrate however is how small victories and the unexpected compassion of virtual strangers can have a farreaching and profound impact. With empathy and sensitivity the poetic sensibility of Rish is literary voice beautifully illuminates the fragile vulnerability of the human condition. In a time when the level of skepticism and distrust between people is rising these stories remind us of the humanity that unites us all.