Lauren Groff short story collection
Delicate Edible Birds is a short story collection written by Lauren Groff. Groff was born and raised in Cooperstown, New York, home of American writers James Fenimore Cooper and W.W. Lord.[1] Several of the stories take place in Upstate New York.[2] Groff is also the author of the best-selling novel The Monsters of Templeton.[3]
Summary
The anthology comprises nine dramatic stories, taken together, spanning a century. In each story, a slice of life of various American women is revealed.[4]
- "Lucky Chow Fun" takes place in the mythical Templeton (Cooperstown, New York), the setting of her first novel. In this tale, seventeen-year-old Lollie hopes to leave for college without looking back, but sinister events end up causing her to fear for the safety of her little sister and the future of her once-safe little town.[5]
- "L. Debard and Aliette"[6] is a crafty re-telling of the story of Abelard and Héloïse in New York amidst the 1918 flu pandemic.[7]
- "Majorette" is a story of a young woman's personal growth in Hershey, Pennsylvania and the events that make her more worldly and the father and grandfather that always hold their little girl in deep affection.[8]
- "Blythe" is the story of a bored, introverted Philadelphia attorney who has turned into a stay-at-home mom whose life changes when she takes a night class and meets an extroverted and eccentric woman who draws her out.
- "The Wife of the Dictator" is a character study of a simple American girl who marries a Latin American dictator. Her fate is inexorably bound up with his.
- "Sir Fleeting" is a story where a Midwestern farm girl on her honeymoon in Argentina falls into lifelong lust for a French playboy.
- "Watershed" is a tragedy, between a husband and a wife, which proves the maxim "don't say things you'll later regret".
- "Delicate Edible Birds" takes place during the fall of France. A disparate, but close group of War correspondents are held against their will by an evil French farmer who exacts a steep price in exchange for not turning them over to the Nazis.
