Origin Stories

Women characters reflect on their complex relationships and their drive to make art in these introspective stories from Vallianatos (The Before-Land). The narrator of “Something in Common” moves from Virginia to California to be closer to her daughter, a successful children’s book illustrator. While discussing the daughter’s ambiguous illustrations of moms, which the mother thinks are intended to be “scary” and somehow representative of her, both women feel like they’re “on trial.” In “Old Poets,” a failed writer reluctantly attends a writing conference with her successful partner, where she faces her insecurities and unexpectedly finds renewed ambition. During a married couple’s visit to the California desert in “Shifting Occupancies,” the husband plans to end his affair with another woman, while his wife considers a fling with a man she meets at a hot spring. Other stories eschew plot for raw and arresting stream-of-consciousness, as in “Dogwood,” where a writer ruminates on the deaths and accidents that have affected her. In “Origin Story,” Vallianatos pieces together a couple’s history through snapshots of the places they’ve lived (Alabama, Arizona, Wisconsin, and more) and the disasters big and small (car trouble, house fire, tornado) that they overcame together. Vallianatos shines in this wide-ranging collection. Agent: Claudia Ballard, WME. (Feb.)