Near Strangers

Short stories that follow unexpected connections and tell of queer life in America. Winner of the 2023 Autumn House Fiction Prize, Near Strangers is a collection of eight tightly crafted short stories filled with unexpected connections and set against the backdrop of everyday life. These stories center on resilient female protagonists and offer a view into queer life in America outside of its major coastal cities. The characters in Marian Crotty's collection are searching--for understanding, acceptance, or forgiveness. In the title story, an elderly rape crisis volunteer's advocacy for a survivor leads her to reexamine her role in estrangement from her son; in "Halloween," a queer teen is counseled through heartbreak by her unlucky-in-love grandmother; and in "Family Resemblance," a group of families whose children share the same sperm donor is disrupted by the arrival of a minor celebrity. While marginalization, loneliness, and bigotry hover in the distance of Near Strangers, the bo