Wild Blueberries

Wild Blueberries is Maureen McNeil's second short story collection. These new stories loop through time and space like earth and moon. Each story has an ecosystem sprinkled with love from unsuspecting sources: sometimes as threads of reflected light against a wall; snippets of lies people tell in an effort to connect; or, in the case of one young woman, in her own reflection. These transcendent moments fuel McNeil's characters and send them back out into their world. In the opening story, Wild Blueberries, Vered discovers dance as a direct communication with the universe and launches a life-long career in New York City. After attending a women's consciousness raising meeting, Bemy finds compassion as a way out of a tight spot, in A Strange Breathless Stunt. Lolo, in Overlook Mountain, collects bits of lore about her father from the townspeople of Woodstock and uncovers a nugget of gold that makes her feel part of the big bang. It is New Year's Eve in Red Millennium, and Cam is ready to celebrate: having averted the disaster of becoming her mother, she is about to embark on her dream. Josey rockets into the sky like the Mona Lisa, in It's the Water. When Boone lets go of her hand, he finds unexpected solace in fulfilling his promise to her.