The Bell at the End of a Rope
Published on 19. March 2026
203 pages
978-1-938603-56-3 (ISBN)
Description
Written over two and a half decades, the stories in The Bell at the End of a Rope bring to their observations of childhood and parenthood a playful sensuality catapulting the most daily, ordinary events ? a few minutes in the eye doctor's waiting room, the folding of a onesie over a towel rod ? into things less familiar ? a goat freed from an earthquake, a woman sneaking into a forest to hide from her family the smoking of a cigarette - all with a fondness for inviting their readers to join in for a moment in going astray. The author thanks Michelle Dotter and the wonderful and much-missed Dan Wickett for helping her bring these stories to Dzanc.
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Person
Abby Frucht is the author of two short story collections: Fruit of the Month, for which she received the Iowa Short Fiction Prize in 1987, and this second collection, The Bell at the End of a Rope, first published by Narrative Library and now reissued. Along the way she has written six novels: Snap; Licorice; Are You Mine?; Life before Death; Polly's Ghost; and A Well-Made Bed (Red Hen Press, 2016). A more recent collection of uncertain genre, Maids, which was a finalist or semi finalist for the Slope Editions Book Prize, the Marie Alexander Poetry Book Prize, The Robert C. Jones Short Prose book prize, the 42 Miles Poetry book prize, and the Deborah Tall Lyric Essay book prize. It tells the story of Abby's efforts to speak to and about the women employed by her parents when she and her sisters were girls on Long Island in the 1960's,'70s, and 80's. Abby served as mentor and advisor for 25 years at Vermont College MFA in Writing Program.
