Chicago Tales

Last year, the Virgin Mary appeared underneath the Kennedy Expressway. . . . . and so begins the tale of Guadalupe, a story about a Latina woman's struggle with her family's expectations. In this collection of fourteen stories, characters rise to meet life's challenges. A young girl's startling discovery about her mother, a pair of twins who must deal with the guilt of their parents' deaths, a transvestite prostitute confronting an unknown future, and a pair of soldiers in 17th century America forced to live a secret life. . . these are a handful of the intriguing portraits vividly wrought with VanPatten's precision and clarity. Chicago Tales are stories of decisions and consequences, challenges and solutions, with touches of both elation and desperation-bound together by Chicago's past, present, and future.