Departures

The stories in this extraordinary collection are set in Northern Ireland, specifically Belfast, the center for more than thirty years of fighting between Roman Catholic nationalists and Protestants loyal to the British crown. Cornell is not preoccupied, however, with the details of the war. Her stories explore the emotional and psychological consequences of the struggle to endure not only violence, but loss, failure, and the inability to believe.

Jennifer C. Cornell is assistant professor of English at Oregon State University and her fiction has appeared in TriQuarterlyNew England Review, Massachusetts Review, and Quarterly West.