Earthly Justice

From Library Journal\nThe setting of this collection is Cape Cod--its private back roads, beaches, civic meetings, galleries, and shops. Here Fate works chastening ironies upon the character of decent, ordinary folk. "Way to the Dump" (published in Best American Short Stories, 1988 ) traces the calamitous last day in the life of a retired executive expecting his former rival's visit. The protagonist of "Dog People" comes to a similarly unfortunate end. "Clay Carter's Will" is about a husband's misreading of a painting and his posthumous revenge gone awry. In the title story, a seeming fishing accident inflicts punishment on an innocent man. Goldman's moral portraits of inner anguish tempered by outward reserve in the microcosm of "the Cape" are sardonic, suspenseful, and finally devastating. Winner, at the age of 77, of the William Goyen Prize for Fiction, the author has also written the comic novel Big Chocolate Cookies (J. Daniel, 1988) and a collection of poetry.
- Mary Soete, San Diego P.L.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.\nProduct description\nBook by Goldman, E. S.