Whimsy, mystery, spirituality and the holy ordinariness of daily life mingle together in this delightful collection of short stories.
Amity: Stories from the Heartland is a collection of short stories set in the Midwest of the United States, a region known for its honest, hardworking, plain-speaking, religious people who are as complex and thoughtful as the most urbane city dwellers. These stories are about 1930s housewives, modern day priests, 1960s kids, and more — as well as the varieties and vagaries of their lives' trials, triumphs, failings, joys, sorrows, and surviving — and the beauty and mystery of it all.
What people are saying about Amity: Stories from the Heartland
Brent Bill’s “stories from the heartland” are old-fashioned tales of small-town life in the twentieth century, warm and good-hearted and sometimes LOL funny. A good choice for fans of Jan Karon’s Mitford novels. — Peggy Payne, a NY Times Notable novelist, author of Revelation and others
The people and places in these stories resonated with me in much the same way my own family stories resonate. It is as if Brent Bill has peered into our collective past and told the stories of our ancestors, people who are ours but who we have not yet met. And he imparts the stories with such grace and kindness, conveying that, “Here we are. This is what we are made of. And it is good.” I’ve not read stories like this since reading Wendell Berry. — Shawn Smucker, author of Light from Distant Stars
These stories took me back to reading O. Henry and made me forget my angst of the day. If you could bottle these, the pharmaceutical industry would take a hit. “I’m stopping your Prozac and prescribing four Brent Bill stories each day and one O. Henry every two weeks.” — Marcy Hawley, Orange Frazer Press It was Joan Didion who said,
“We tell ourselves stories in order to live.” In this visit to Amity, Brent Bill reminds us how, and why, to live. Poignant, humorous, winsome, and wise, this is Bill doing what he does best – going before us, shining the Light.– — Philip Gulley, author of the Harmony series
A delightful collection of very varied stories grounded in the detail of everyday life in small town America. By turns comic and touching, its deceptively light touch reveals the deeper realities beneath seemingly humdrum events. How even in the dark times love, grace and redemption can prevail. — Jennifer Kavanagh, author of The Emancipation of B and The Silence Diaries
These warm-hearted, sweetly nostalgic stories evoke a world that is resonant with hope and graciousness. Here are characters wrestling with their ambitions and desires, and finding goodness in unexpected places. The goodness is always offered up. In these stories, it’s there for the taking. — Erin McGraw, author of Joy and others
As I read Brent’s stories, I kept sensing lines from Kristofferson’s classic “Sunday Morning Coming Down” reminiscent of a lost time. Clean as a breeze storytelling fills these pages, a gift because we so quickly forget what really matters. — John Blase, author and poet
With deep emotion and subtlety, J. Brent Bill has built a rich world of fully imagined characters. This brilliant collection sits nicely next to Middle American classics Winesburg, Ohio and Mrs. Bridge. — Dan Hornsby, author of Via Negativa
