Dream
House, by Barbara Bean
Click
to purchase
 About
the Book:
In these nine brilliant stories, love and marriage are examined and reexamined
from a variety of perspectives, all provocative, all troubling. A teacher falls
in love with her student, a sister dances naked for her brother, a wife loves
her husband's mistress, a widow learns the close relationship between love
and death, a trilogy explores the course of a marriage shot through with secrets,
and the irrationality and mystery of love are discovered over and over again.
The dream house of the title story is the one beneath the surface, the private
house, where love opens up new avenues of intimacy, news ways of knowing another
person. In Barbara Bean's debut collection, we are introduced to a striking
new voice in contemporary fiction, a voice at once sexy, funny, wise and unforgettable.
" In this funny and moving
collection, Barbara Bean demonstrates a genius
for transforming the everyday world into
a harrowing carnival of possibility and risk.
Her characters—made reckless by middle-class
stagnation—leave social convention
in the dust as they commit themselves to
the more hazardous realms of adultery, bad
judgment, and far-fetched hopes. This book
marks the debut of an extraordinary writer."
— Clint McCown, author of War Memorials and The Member-Guest
" These gorgeous, sensuous
stories explore the dark corners of the heart,
where secrets and yearning reside. Characters
long for one another, they find ways to reach
out, sometimes they transgress. Always the
results are surprising. Reading Dream House
is like slipping with shocked joy into a
dream, a place where every aspect of human
life is charged with mystery and desire."
— Erin McGraw, author of Lies of the Saints and Bodies at Sea
About the Author:
Barbara Bean was born
in Clinton, Iowa. She graduated from Knox
College and holds an MFA from Indiana University.
Her stories have appeared in Beloit Fiction
Journal, Colorado Review, Laurel Review,
North American Review, and Northwest Review.
A professor of creative writing and English
at DePauw University, Bean lives with her
husband in Greencastle, Indiana. |
