Amy Hempel’s stories are built from what gets left out. 

All breakups, illness, dogs, driving, memory, sex, grief; the prose is spare without being cold and so simply, can express so, so much. 

Across these stories, Hempel dives into the aftermath of a life. Animals repeatedly become witnesses, substitutes, intermediaries; sometimes they are easier to trust than people. The collection includes “Jesus Is Waiting,” “The Uninvited,” “The Dog of the Marriage,” “Memoir” and “Offertory,” and is a very good entry point into Hempel’s compressed, elliptical way of writing emotion: almost everything important happens in the negative space.

Scribner, New York, 2005. First edition, first printing. Hardcover. Very light shelf wear to jacket with minor handling marks; boards and pages clean, binding firm. Near fine condition.