Please Come Back To Me
Winner of the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction
On the surface, Jessica Treadway's stories offer realistic portrayals of people in situations that make them question their roles as family members, their ability to do the right thing, and even their sanity. But Treadway's psychic landscapes are tinged with a sense of the surreal, inviting readers to recognize—as her characters do—that very little is actually as it seems.
In "The Nurse and the Black Lagoon," a woman tries to understand why her teenage son has been accused of a disturbing crime at a neighborhood playground. In "Testimony," an adult daughter visiting her father does everything she can to keep herself from remembering what she believes but cannot bear. In "Dear Nicole," a man returns to his hometown to face the realization that he married the wrong woman out of misplaced guilt. And in the title novella, a young widow seeks faith and comfort—in both natural and supernatural realms—after her husband's death leaves her alone to care for their infant son.
"Treadway examines and exposes emotions that few would readily admit to." —Publishers Weekly
"Treadway's prose is clear and searingly direct." —The Boston Globe