Wingtips

Each of the tales in 'Wingtips', the first collection of short stories by bright new talent Avery Chenoweth, focuses on members of the Goodpasture family and their search for love, a sense of belonging, and, ultimately, spiritual transformation. From the rarified atmosphere of Martha's Vineyard and the near-tropical lushness of the Tennessee mountains to the streets of Washington, D.C., the debutante balls of Jacksonville, and the stark emptiness of Oklahoma, Chenoweth chronicles the dreams and ambitions of characters fumbling their way toward the responsibilities of maturity. Chenoweth has created a colorful cast of characters from across the social and geographic spectrum: Yankee blue bloods summering at the Vineyard, a faith healer who lays hands on fast food restaurants as well as people, a man willing to sacrifice his children's inheritance so that Jesus will lead them to oil, a young adult who discovers his true love only to learn that she is his half-sister, a boy whose game of espionage puts an end to his innocence, and a man who pretends to be his own double at a college reunion. These stories also skirt the fantastic, with scenes of a child hiding in a grave, people attacking their guest at the dinner table, and a party of ghosts arriving for lunch. Comic and yet poignant, 'Wingtips' explores the human heart in conflict with itself.