TURF. Stories

Through her three story collections and two novels, Elizabeth Crane's singular literary vision has created worlds of characters standing boldly in the face of their complicated circumstances. Blazing through states, cities, towns, continents, Crane fearlessly pivots from micro to macro, humor to tragedy, past to present, mixing an off kilter sensibility with a heartbreaking reality, guiding us into the fringed and often fantastical lives of her characters. And that has never been truer than in her new collection, Turf.

The end of the world as seen through a young couple in Brooklyn, who find a baby in a bucket on their front step; a group of geniuses who meet every Wednesday, able to unlock all the secrets of the universe except for the unknowable mystery of love; a woman and her dog walker whose friendship is uprooted by an incident at the park; these are dark, intriguing vistas explored in Crane's glowing collection. For as places change, and people come and go, these stories in Turf remind us that it is the unchanging nature of the human heart that connects us all.

Elizabeth Crane is the author of the acclaimed novels The History of Great Things (Harper Perennial, 2016) and We Only Know So Much (Harper Perennial, 2012) and three collections of short stories: When the Messenger Is Hot (Little, Brown 2003), All This Heavenly Glory (Little, Brown 2005), and You Must Be This Happy To Enter (Akashic Books 2008). Her work has been featured in the magazines Other Voices, Mississippi Review, Bridge, Chicago Reader, Believer, as well as several anthologies. She is a recipient of the Chicago Public Library 21st Century Award, and her work has been adapted for the stage by Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre Company.