The Shell Collector

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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

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First Scribner trade paperback edition January 2011

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2001040031

ISBN 978-0-7432-1274-8

ISBN 978-1-4391-9005-0 (pbk)
ISBN 978-0-7432-2362-1 (ebook)

Most of the stories in this collection have appeared elsewhere, in slightly different form: “The Hunter’s Wife” in The Atlantic Monthly; “So Many Chances” in Sycamore Review and Fly Rod & Reel; “For a Long Time This Was Griselda’s Story” in North American Review; “July Fourth” in Black Warrior Review; “The Caretaker” in The Paris Review; “A Tangle by the Rapid River” in The Sewanee Review; and “The Shell Collector” in The Chicago Review.