Nice Big American Baby

A blazingly original, profoundly moving new work of fiction by a writer whose worldand imaginationknows no boundaries. I dont know what planet Judy Budnitz comes from, said Newsweek on the publication of her fiction debut, Flying Leap, but Im happy to have her. Tremendous . . . funny, dark, adventurous, slanted, and enchanted. These twelve astonishingly inventive storieswhich take us into the heart of America and around the globe, from suburban backyards and swimming pools to war-torn streets and fallout sheltersare riveting, seductive, and impossible to forget.In Flush, a mammogram prompts a dark comedy of blurred identities between a mother and her two adult daughters. In Elephant and Boy, a surrogate mother-and-son bond, tinged with the erotic, is formed when a philanthropist attempts to civilize a young elephant handler. Nadia sounds...