cover image Dreaming in Color

Dreaming in Color

Ruth Moose. August House Publishers, $15.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-87483-078-1

These 19 fresh, vivid short stories are set in small, declining North Carolina towns. Sharply observant, they ring true with the easy cadences of rural speech. Many of them capture a turning point in the lives of teenaged girls, who, as they cast an uneasy eye on the breakup of marriages, or observe friends with abusive lovers or neighbors with severely restricted lives, make an almost unconscious decision to break away. Rich with gentle humor, in ``The Silver Crescent,'' a fearful and suspicious grandmother makes her first trip to New York, a journey experienced in unexpectedly zestful ways by her 13-year-old granddaughter. Men in these stories fare badly; they are adulterous, disturbed, insensitive or egocentric. A few stories deal with women, who, by virtue of their intellect and determination have escaped their harsh lives. Though limited in scope, the collection is braced by sharp characterizations and a strong evocation of a gritty, working-class milieu. (Apr.)