Maggie Boylan

Set in Appalachian Ohio amid an epidemic of prescription opiate abuse, Michael Hensons linked collection tells of a womans search for her own peculiar kind of redemption, and brings the novel-in-stories form to new heights. Maggie Boylan is an addict, thief, liar, and hustler. But she is also a woman of deep compassion and resilience. The stories follow Maggie as she spirals through her addictive process, through the court system and treatment, and into a shaky new beginning. In these masterful stories, we rarely occupy Maggies perspective, but instead gain a multilayered portrait of a community as we see other peoples lives bump up against hersand we witness her inserting herself into their spheres, refusing to be rebuffed. The result is a prismatic view of a community fighting to stay upright against the headwinds of a drug epidemic: always on edge, always human.