Terrarium: New and Selected Stories

Valerie Trueblood’s book of short stories, Terrarium: New and Selected Stories, is a beautiful collection of stories that captures the unpredictability of the world, the inherent mysteries in seemingly mundane occurrences, and the central concerns that are part of human existence. The short stories enclosed in Terrarium cover a wide range of themes and topics from love, pain, trauma, relationships, family, illness, marriage, and criminality. Like a terrarium, this book contains these larger themes and grows them into engaging stories that feel true to everyday lived experience. I have no doubt that Valerie Trueblood’s new collection of short stories is going to be a must read in 2018–the writing is impeccable, the characterization is novel, and the stories are so captivating that this three hundred and eighty-six-page book becomes a quick read.