Various Miracles

Various Miracles brings together twenty-one short stories, modern parables that illuminate the mysteries of everyday existence.

In the title story, four strangers on a bus are all reading the same book. In “Fragility,” Ivy’s husband reflects on their marriage, the death of their young son, Christopher, and the plane ride that will deliver them to a new life.

From “The Metaphor is Dead—Pass It On” to “Home” to “Others”—in which a couple’s act of generosity is repaid in annual Christmas cards with no return address—this collection is by turns witty, inventive, and moving. Whether portraying a violinist yearning to break free of overprotective parents or an elderly widow mowing her lawn to the thunderous timpani of memory, Carol Shields depicts the struggles of ordinary people caught up in extraordinary circumstances. It’s a world where magic coexists with reality, and where leaps of faith and acts of kindness create their own miracles.