Swim Back to Me

Ann Packer's collection opens with Walk for Mankind, a novella set in 1972, in which 13-year-old Richard Appleby, living with his father after his mother leaves, befriends Sasha Horowitz and her seemingly happy family. The stories that follow include Molten, about a mother grieving her teenage son, and the book closes with Things Said or Done, which returns to Sasha decades later. Packer writes about loss and the ties people try to rebuild.

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