The Freedom in American Songs: StoriesA Library Journal Key Indie Fiction Title, Fall 2014 A BBC.com Book to Read for October, 2014 Meet Xavier Boland, the untouchable cross-dresser, who walks loose and carefree as an old Broadway tune. Meet Miss Penrice, a lost old woman forced by wartime to parent a child for the first time. Meet a Zamboni mechanic turned funeral porteur, Madame Poirer’s lapdog (and its chastity belt), a congregation of hard-singing, sex-obsessed Pentecostals, and more. With The Freedom in American Songs, Kathleen Winter brings her unusual sensuality, lyrically rendered settings, and subversive humour to bear on a new story collection about modern loneliness, small-town gay teens, catastrophic love, and the holiness of ordinary life. Praise for Kathleen Winter "Utterly original."—O, The Oprah Magazine "Absorbing, earnest. . . . Beautifully written."—The New York Times Book Review "Her lyrical voice and her crystalline landscape are enchanting."—The New Yorker "Read it because it's a story told with sensitivity to language that compels to the last page, and read it because it asks the most existential of questions. Stripped of the trappings of gender, Winter asks, what are we?" - The Globe and Mail "She captures the way the truth both imprisons us and sets us free. . . . Simple, touching, real, absolutely convincing and sympathetic."—The Rumpus "A major writer."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review |
Contents
| 3 | |
| 17 | |
The Marianne Stories Every Waking Moment | 29 |
The Freedom in American Songs | 43 |
Of the Fountain | 59 |
You Seem a Little Bit Sad | 69 |
The Zamboni Mechanics Blood | 77 |
Anhinga | 81 |
Madame Poirers Dog | 97 |
Flyaway | 107 |
Knives | 123 |
His Brown Face Through the Flowers | 135 |
Handsome Devil | 141 |
Darlings Kingdom | 151 |
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Common terms and phrases
Adam corlett alligators anhinga Armand asked bakeapple bought brother cake called Callum Tyree canoe Cara chastity belt child Chris Warren Cinders cranberries dance Dickson dollars door Doris Keys ducks Eleanor everything eyes Facebook father feel felt flamenco fourth wall Francine gone gonna Gordon Hullimer Gracie Gus Darling hair halal halloran Hammond organ handsome devil Heslop husband Janice jellyfish Jesus Joan Joey Kerry kind knew legs little girl live Lloyd looked Madame Poirer mangroves Marianne Marianne's Maurice Quigley Mexican butcher mother nails never night Patrick Roy Pencil Cove Pentecostal remember road rose Ruby salsa Sanibel sausage rolls singing someone songs street talking taxi tell thing thought told took town trees truck voice waiting walked wallpaper wife window woman wondered Xavier Boland Zamboni دو