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.