Shakespeare's kitchen : stories / Lore Segal

An introduction: Money, fame, and beautiful women / Cousins: An absence of cousins -- The talk in Eliza's kitchen / Crime: Garbage thief -- At whom the dog barks -- A gated community / Deaths: Fatal wish -- Other people's deaths / The howling: Reverse bug / By joy surprised: Picnic -- Mistral -- Leslie's shoes

A surprising and gratifying treat for literary fiction readers, Segal's collection of 13 stories includes the O. Henry Prize-winning "The Reverse Bug," as well as several never-before-published pieces. All are vignettes from the life of Ilka Weisz, a teacher of college-level ESL. The first story sets the scene: Ilka is a newcomer to the Concordance Institute, a Connecticut think tank made up of a tight-knit group of academics. While she struggles to be accepted into the exclusive staff clique, she manages to charm institute director Leslie Shakespeare and his wife, Eliza, beginning a lifelong friendship as well as an affair. As Ilka is welcomed into the institute's fold, she becomes privy to her colleagues' little secrets and struggles and they to hers. The writing style is spare, leaving out exposition during conversations so that the characters' spoken words regulate the story's ever-changing tone. Fans of modernist works will enjoy the free-flowing stream of conversation; postmodern devotees will appreciate being able to fill in the lacunae between stories.