“Big World”

Mary Miller’s debut collection of short stories, “Big World” (Hobart) tackles big questions about love, violence, and relationships. We are introduced through her writing to women who search for love and belonging in places that are bound to fall short of their expectations. In one story, for instance, a young woman has sex with a partner at her father’s firm, an event that does not end well for anyone involved. Believer Magazine says of the book, “Though narrow in scope, ‘Big World’ gives a full anatomy lesson of the kind of heart that’s kick-started by booze, cigarettes, and jukebox songs of regret. Miller writes with savage charm. The pronouncements are harsh, the judgments severe, and while the wisecracks arm these women with a kind of deadpan humor, it would be a mistake to call them precocious.”