Old Crimes

In this satisfying collection from McCorkle (Hieroglyphics), characters attempt to bridge gender, political, and generational divides in hopes of coming to terms with a world where “evil and violent things had been happening since the beginning of time.” In “Commandments,” a group of women who were dumped by the same man get together regularly at a café and trade stories about their former beau. When their free-spirited younger server, Candy, hears them dishing about the unnamed man (whom they claim had “perfected the art of ruining women”), Candy offers unexpected wisdom. In “The Last Station,” a recently widowed woman lugs a cross from one end of her yard to the other, simulating Jesus’s plight while airing grievances big and small—the rise of white nationalists, drama at her book club—to a shocked audience of neighbors. The standout “Sparrow” finds a newly divorced mother befriending an older woman at her child’s little league games who provides the validation the mother needs regarding her children’s well-being. Though the collection feels somewhat repetitive, McCorkle serves up plenty of humor and heartache each time she weaves a tale of interconnected relationships, and often pushes her stories toward empathetic and surprising climaxes. McCorkle fans will gobble this up. Agent: Henry Dunow, Dunow, Carlson, and Lerner. (Jan.)