“My subject matter is the everyday, the places we live and work, the thoughts we all have, but hardly ever share, though these musings may carry the most profound of our human concerns. A mother tries to help her heartbroken son; a woman wants to tidy, but doesn’t know which books to discard; a climate volunteer in the church basement is put off because someone else took the sandwich she ordered; a lonely woman is distressed when her potted plant stops blooming—all the little insignificant but critical moments that reveal values, character, and just naked human need.

Where do we find comfort in such a world? Where do we find meaning? Redemption comes when we are courageous enough to trust our sorrow, our outrage. Life itself renders its missteps and absurdities, despite our best efforts; therefore we are led to forgive, both ourselves and others. We eschew judgment for mercy. We find the life force pushing up through the cracks of our existence, letting us know that beyond all our fears, mistakes, regrets, there is a sure ground underlying all that is. Its most trustworthy manifestation is love in all its myriad forms.”

“With this collection of short stories, Marilyn Sewell does not offer wisdom from the pulpit but rather lets us overhear stories in the parking lot as parishioners share glimpses from their secret lives. Through the spaces between people in these beguiling fictions, love wanders like a ghost, offering whispered hints of solace against a backdrop of isolating divisions. In the spirit of the enigmatic stories of Lydia Davis, Isak Dinesen, Yasunari Kawabata, and other masters of the ironic parable, Sewell offers companionship for readers longing to navigate a world of faltering connections. We watch characters struggle to find what we all seek: new ways to deepen faith in the human project.”