This collection brings together the author's twelve best stories, all set in the same small Southern community in Alabama. The world of these stories covers five generations of one particular family named Anderson, and the range in time is from 1865 to the present. These stories are about grace in the lives of ordinary men and women. The plot lines are infinitely various, but so delicate that they have eluded some of the subtlest writers. As was once said about the writing of Peter Taylor, a master of the short story, Marlin Barton's writing is as clear as a fine pane of glass. Correctly described as unobtrusive, this style is so simple and powerful that he seems scarcely to be exercising his craft. This is the perfect definition of a virtuoso. As readers will find, there is virtuosity aplenty in The Dry Well.

The Dry Well (Stories)

Literature & Fiction

Marlin Barton

Short Stories & Anthologies

Frederic C. Beil

Author Dabney Stuart best summarizes this debut novel ''as relentless as Euripides, or Faulkner, whose 'As I Lay Dying' is its formal model. Its central preoccupation is the sins (or in more secular terms, 'behavior patterns') of fathers and mothers passing into the lives of their offspring. It also reminds us how many people, living and dead, ghost our daily experience, complication and enriching our choices. Barton includes the dimension of mercy, too---the mutual forgiveness of failures by family members who, finally, find ways to realize they can't live without each other. An impressive, uncompromising book.''

A Broken Thing

"Dancing by the River" is a superb collection of stories about the fascinating complexities of life in a small community.

Dancing by the River

Frederic C. Beil, Publisher

The Cross Garden

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Marlin Barton. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Marlin Barton

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Marlin Barton. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

The Dry Well (Stories)

A Broken Thing

Dancing by the River

The Cross Garden