Legacies: Stories

Part of the Illinois Short Fiction Series, these latest stories from Potter (We Have Seen the Best of Our Times are captivating. In the title story, we are witness to the dividing of the meager spoils left to a disaffected brother and sister by their mother, who had despised them both. ""The Guests'' takes us inside a strange relationship, that of a divorced traveling couple who are at ease only when others are present. ``Light Timber'' is a perfectly realized contemporary tale of the marriage between a former nun and a devout bachelor. In more than a dozen self-contained short narratives there is a continuity of viewpointPotter's perceptions, at times amusing and mordant. She gives expression to those insights in a wise acceptance of the variable human condition. (September 4)