A Gift of Maple Syrup and Other Stories

Only a few miles up that road they pulled into a weedy parking area, drawn to the boarded-up one-room schoolhouse that, within a year, would be renovated and opened as Stacks and Snacks, a bookshop and natural foods eatery.

In eighteen stories, some touching, some raucous, Eric Selby examines redemption, grace, family, and community dysfunction through the lives of small-town people living in Gilead County, Vermont. His unforgettable characters include a beloved old-time barber, a cast of frustrated teachers and students, a family whose farm has to be sold, religious nuts, a retired out-of-state couple with long-held hostilities, and a hymn-singing child who confuses hosanna with Obama.

As people in the county grapple with their problems, Sadie and Olivia find themselves woven into most of their lives. "A Gift of Maple Syrup and Other Stories" offers insights into the human condition. These stories celebrate the endurance of the human spirit.