Two Nurses, Smoking by David Means

A new collection of stories by David Means, a visionary master of the
form" ( The Observer ).
Two nurses meet in the hospital parking lot to share a cigarette. They flirt and
imagine a future together. They tell stories of patients lost and patients saved,
of the darkest corners of human suffering and the luminous moments that
break through, even here, in the shadow of death.
In David Means's virtuosic new collection, time unfolds in unexpected ways: a
single, quiet moment swells with the echoes of a widower's complicated
marriage; a dachshund, given a new name and a new life by a new owner,
catches the scent of the troubled man who previously abandoned her; young
lovers become old; estranged couples return to their vows; and those who
have died live on in perpetuity in the memories of those whom they touched.
The stories in this collection - which havewon the O. Henry Prize and the
Pushcart Prize, and have been featured in The Best American Short Stories -
confirm the promise of a writer who "believes in the power of stories to rescue
and redeem people" (Max Liu, Financial Times ).
A revelatory meditation on trauma and catharsis, isolation and communion,
Two Nurses, Smoking reflects the dislocations and anguish of our (...)

David Means was born and raised in Michigan. He is the author of five shortstory collections, including Instructions for a Funeral, The Spot (a New York
Times notable book of the year), Assorted Fire Events (winner of the Los
Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction), and The Secret Goldfish, and of the
novel Hystopia (long-listed for the Man Booker Prize). His stories have
appeared in The New Yorker, Harper's Magazine, The Best American Short
Stories, The Best American Mystery Stories, The O. Henry Prize Stories, and
other publications. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2013, Means
lives in Nyack, New York, and teaches at Vassar College.

Picador
On Sale: Sep 12/23
5.38 x 8.25 • 224 pages
9781250872517 • $24.00 • pb
Fiction / Short Stories (Single Author)