Requiem: And Other Short Stories

By Melissa Whitney and Richard Whitney

Conversation with the Blackboard Ellen contemplates retirement from her teaching career when someone starts leaving mysterious messages on her blackboard... Christmas Cards Dory deals with her... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0595167470
• ISBN13: 9780595167470
• Release Date: April 2001
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Length: 204 Pages
• Weight: 0.72 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

Brilliantly crafted and thought provoking

It's rare to find a book of short stories that contains nothing but impressive tales that each deserve equal praise, but Melissa M. Whitney has created such a collection. Although each of the stories contained in Requiem is worth discussing, one of my favorites is 'An Apple for the Teacher'. A young woman pregnant with her first child has a recurring nightmare in which she dies in childbirth just as her mother died giving birth to her. This one is a tearjerker, both beautiful and real. Another very different but equally impressive tale is 'Christmas Cards'. In this tale a young woman faces the death of her sister and realizes that the truth is more twisted than anything she could have imagined. This is a shocking piece that makes the reader cringe in horror as Dory learns things about her sister that she can barely fathom. With a gift for blending mundane, all too realistic situations with hints of the supernatural, Whitney makes the reader fully believe, even if just for a moment, that the supernatural explanation is the only one possible. In short, I highly recommend Requiem and other short stories and will wait on bated breath for the release of her first novel. If her novels are half as good as her short stories, she'll be a literary force to be reckoned with in the future. Please visit my website reviewlutions.com for my complete review of this book.