North of Ordinary
North of Ordinary by John Rolfe Gardiner, published by Bellevue Literary Press in 2025, is a collection of ten stories that explores the lives of various characters navigating a changing world. This edition, comprising 224 pages, presents a range of narratives featuring individuals such as a young apprentice tree climber, an obsessed student at a Southern Bible college, and a cross-dressing lawman whose friendship impacts a deaf child. The stories delve into themes of survival and connection, offering a glimpse into the complexities of human experience.
Readers will find that North of Ordinary presents a diverse array of characters, each facing unique challenges and circumstances. The collection highlights the resilience of individuals in small-town settings, revealing their struggles and triumphs. Through these narratives, Gardiner provides an intimate look at societal fractures while emphasizing the unifying power of art. This edition is available in English and is designed to engage those interested in literature and fiction, particularly within the realms of short stories and anthologies.
Official synopsis Publisher
The long-awaited return of a quintessentially American storyteller
“You’re as likely to be hit twice by lightning on a Monday as see a wood chipper pull a man into its maw.”
So begins North of Ordinary, John Rolfe Gardner’s virtuosic story collection of survivors getting by despite the odds in a shifting world. In these pages, we meet a nervous young apprentice to a weathered tree climber; a dangerously obsessed student at a Southern Bible college; an attractive schemer trying to build an audience for her tiny radio station; an undercover, cross-dressing lawman whose friendship changes the life of a deaf child in a suburban cul-de-sac; and an elderly Black mason whose knowledge of the town’s history harbors truths that shake his visitor’s foundation.
Surprising, touching, and deeply humane, the ten stories of North of Ordinary offer an intimate, revelatory look at our fractured society and pull us together through the power of art.
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