Stubborn Bones

Lori A. Dunn is an ESL teacher, instructional designer, and freelance
writer in New Westminster, B.C.

All of the protagonists in this intriguing collection of 11 short
stories find themselves at a crossroads in their emotional lives as they
confront major changes in their relationships with love ones. In the
title story, the narrator mourns her relationship with the husband from
whom she has recently separated. In “Miss Forbes,” a woman who is
satisfied with the rituals of her life wonders if she should accept a
marriage proposal. “Feliz Navidad” presents the thoughts of a woman
who is not quite comfortable with her recent marriage. The three-part
“Strange Relations” finds the heroine coming to terms with her
scattered family and the death of relationships.

Smythe’s unaffected prose allows the reader to focus on the basic
human needs of her characters: the need to be loved, to be safe, and to
not die alone.