Pedlar Press, 2006

Read by Kris Rothstein

Many of the twelve stories in Between are snapshots — glimpses that provide a static picture but don’t really develop. They are precise and accurate but somehow empty. The other pieces in this collection, however, contain genuine moments of insight and revelation, documenting the instant when something changes, comes into focus or suddenly makes sense. These moments of disclosure are always subtle and occur without the traumas and manufactured difficulties which so often provide the momentum for short fiction. Almost all of the stories are told in the first person, which allows for a gentle passage into another mind — the narrative is always patient and never tries too hard to explain or illustrate this personality or that life.

“In the Home” presents an old man who offers a few thoughts about his life — past and present. He reflects on the value of knots, considers another life he might have lived while holding a miniature figurine. In “With Love From,” a son waits to tell his father that he’s sold his stationary business and, despite the dreadful anticipation, the moment becomes one of joy and possibility. In the startling “Butterfly Net,” a son spends the summer following his father around town (stealthily, he thinks), protective and curious. It’s an impulse that’s stirred by affection and the yawning gap that exists even between people who are close.

The best-realized characters are older people, perhaps because they know the value in a pause, in a nostalgic thought, in a moment of waiting. Much of the action is in anticipation: waiting for a husband’s return from work, for a friend’s visit, for a new life to begin or a season to end, or for that elusive flash of comprehension. The stories are full of routines that seem insignificant, but Petrou teases out the small precious secret that makes each life wonderful and strange.