The secret lives of people in love / Simon Van Booy

Little birds -- Reappearance of strawberries -- As much below as up above -- Not the same shoes -- Where they hide is a mystery -- World laughs in flowers -- Some bloom in darkness -- Distant ships -- No greater gift -- Snow falls and then disappears -- Shepherd on the rock -- Everything is a beautiful trick -- French artists killed in Sunday's earthquake -- Apples -- Everyday things -- Conception -- Save as many as you ruin -- Still but falling world.

The Secret Lives of People in Love is the first short story collection by award-winning writer Simon Van Booy. These stories, set in Kentucky, New York, Paris, Rome, and Greece, are a perfect synthesis of grace, intensity, atmosphere, and compassion. Love, loss, frailty, human contact, and isolation are Van Booy's themes. He writes about the difficult choices we make in order to retain our humanity and about the redemptive power of love in a violent world.