Wild Horse: Stories: Grace Paley Prize in Short Fiction

Winner of the prestigious Grace Paley Prize, Wild Horse explores human experience in forgotten places of America's industrial decline. Interweaving images of remarkable natural beauty with neglected homes and trashed streets, Neuenfeldt writes fully to life characters who have been dealt losing hands. With a pathos both heartrending and fascinating, he offers stories that pull readers completely into the landscapes of loss, daring them to keep looking despite the squalor because there is something about the character—the grit he displays or the hopefulness he maintains—that makes readers want to see how it ends.

An orphaned boy fights to keep the dilapidated home that contains the memory of his family. A sawyer's nephew scrambles to recall the skills of the trade in the wake of his uncle's death. A corrections teacher strains to give his son direction in a remote prison town after his addict mother deserts them. These stories create a portrait of the difficult decisions people must make in unforgiving surroundings and the consequences of the battle to press on.

Published in cooperation with Association of Writers and Writing Programs.