Set in the Michigan landscape that Charles Baxter has made his own, these thirteen exquisite stories illuminate the often curious connections of relatives and strangers. "You can't just get a brother off the street," says the narrator of the title story, but indeed he does. In another, a woman tries to elude her lover's voice by spending an entire day without words. A marriage is jostled by the departure of a friend during a snowstorm. Baxter's stories tend to be love stories, but it is love tinged with fear, even danger, where shock, comedy, and love combine in unexpected ways. Book jacket.

After the loss of her mother, Zarah goes to visit her aunt, whom she hasn’t seen since she was a young child, but she is greeted instead by a young man named Stein, who introduces himself as her aunt’s son. He seems aggressive from the start, his cold smile no comfort. It turns out that Zarah’s aunt has passed away and left her a huge inheritance. Though it’s a complete surprise to her, Stein believes Zarah is nothing more than a gold digger. Her intention had only been to uncover the mystery of her birth, but the condition of the inheritance states that she must live in her aunt’s house for six months before she can claim her legacy. Will she be able to handle red-hot Stein’s icy attitude until then?

A Stranger In The Family by Patricia McLinn released on Mar 24, 1995 is available now for purchase.

Fourteen short stories by St. Louis author Margaret Hermes. Winner of the Doris Bakwin Award for Writing by a Woman, selected by Jill McCorkle.