What we come in for

the long version

"Down there, in the heartland, lies Paradise - the fictional town that forms the heart of Richard Lundquist's collection What We Come in For. Like the sturdy quilt or linoleum floor, these stories are individually remarkable yet intimately connected: a fatherless boy whose affection for an unsavory hired hand is at odds with his own sense of rectitude; a woman who leaves her empty house only to find a greater emptiness in the arms of the town minister; a vagabond son who returns for his mother's funeral and begins to salvage his own life and hers by transgressing the laws and customs to Paradise. All of the stories share the same landscapes and landmarks - the M & P Cafe, the Greener Pasture, and Turk's Bluff - and all convey a series of the loss, fear, and helplessness that characterize this heartland."--BOOK JACKET.