In House Gone Quiet, a vivacious collection of 10 short stories, debut author Kelsey Norris contemplates loss, violence, and cultural clashes in settings that include the contemporary South and dystopian landscapes. With "The Sound of Women Waiting," the collection opens on a postwar scene where women--the spoils--are carried across the border in government trucks, "swaying like one weeping mass of sea grass." News and rumors spread of them enacting revenge on their new husbands. "Salt," likewise, employs a shifting perspective to ponder women's power in dystopian states. Alleen's spells are thought to ease death or safeguard pregnancies, but even she won't make the rains come to the dusty salt pan.
Two highlights, "Decency Rule" and "Such Great Height and Consequence," set up playful speculative scenarios. In the former, the mayor decrees that no one is to wear clothes anymore, and society splits into factions: those who adhere to the nudity order and those who resist. Norris imagines that the law finds backing from unexpected quarters. In the latter story, the town of Aberdeen removes a Confederate statue and gives people a chance to take a turn occupying the empty pedestal. It comes to be seen as a form of volunteering, or even a civic duty, and attracts all manner of amusing performances and confessions.
"Certain Truths and Miracles" contrasts superstitious and scientific understandings of underwater lights observed off a tropical island. "Air Shifts" reveals the compassionate connections made by the hosts of two radio shows. In "Choose Bliss," a divorcee meets a professor who's cynical about her self-care addiction. "Stitch," another standout, is about former runners in a makeshift support group for "finder's guilt" over discovering dead bodies. A TV reporter tries to get them to enact a closure they don't feel. Great-aunt MaBeulah's visit with a suitcase full of down-home foods is the basis of "Sentries." "Go Way Back" considers a biracial woman in the Deep South meeting her boyfriend's parents. This final story is the most audacious: it's told in the second person, and the plot proceeds backward to reveal ambivalence about whether the relationship will last.
The sheer variety of genres, settings, and subjects means that the collection resembles a tasting menu--a showcase of the range of this debut writer. It will be exciting to watch her talent develop. This is perfect for fans of Danielle Evans. --Rebecca Foster, freelance reviewer, proofreader and blogger at Bookish Beck
Shelf Talker: Kelsey Norris's enticingly varied debut collection of 10 stories moves between the contemporary South and dystopian landscapes to consider themes of guilt, loss, racism, and women's power.