In the exemplary title story of Brady's third collection of closely observed San Fran-centric stories (following Curled in the Bed of Love
), a relationship both playful and tense is revealed subtly by everyday stresses to be a charged power struggle between privileged equestrian college dropout Annie and Clay, the stable manager. Whether carried away by their horses or their hearts, Brady's characters fixate on the unpredictable, “teetering between knowing what was ahead and refusing to know.” Buffeted by outside forces (illnesses, busted pipes, financial straits and death), Brady's characters often waver and fall: in “The Dazzling World,” a woman who lost her last boyfriend to suicide can't make sense of her current relationship; “Slender Little Thing” follows a teenage mom, who struggles by day with the rich children she nannies and by night with her own daughter; a businessman leaves his family to work in a church-run homeless shelter in “Those Who Walk During the Day.” Excepting the self-involved protagonist of “Wicked Stepmother,” Brady's leads are likable and idiosyncratic, and her insight into their unstable lives will keep readers swaying between a sense of comfort and loss. (Feb.)
