The Rose Thieves Stories

The Rose Thievesgives us the Vanderwald family: flamboyant, hot-tempered Lila, who feels trapped living in a small New England town; her sentimental, eternally optimistic husband, a failed futures-market investor; and their children. An affectionate daughter steals flowers from gardens all over town for her big sister's sixteenth birthday. A tea party for the local minister is turned upside down by a four-year-old's remark. Sheep wander through the kitchen, an enraged mother swan menaces the sisters as their own mother entertains a possible lover, and, after a near-disaster, Lila proclaims "We faced death; death couldn't face us!" Amidst the chaos, Kate, the oldest daughter, practices piano because "Haydn will give order to everything, if only you play him right." With wit, natural artistry, and a keen eye for the absurd, Heidi Jon Schmidt effortlessly weaves stories of strange but all-too-real family life.

Heidi Jon Schmidt is the author of Darling? and The Bride of Catastrophe. She lives in Provincetown, Massachusetts.

"A graceful journey into the individual life of a young woman and the collective life of a family--and a fine debut." --The New York Times Book Review

"It's laugh-out-loud comic and really tragic at the same time...beautifully, very evocatively written, with amazing images throughout and a strong sense of the characters' feelings." --The Boston Globe

"The stories are standouts." --Chicago Tribune