Backland Graces: Four Novellas

Readers have compared these stories to the writings of bestselling author Annie Proulx. Like Proulx, Bennett plumbs the dark interiors of hard-living, back country characters, unveiling their common links with our own humanity, surprisingly restoring a sense of one-ness, compassion and even love. Like all seekers, the secret inner stories Bennett unveils in his stories take us into the mysteries of love, death, conflict, peace, and the existence of an indefinable yet remarkably accessible higher power. There are many surprises in these pages, found even in the despair of the middle-aged barmaid who suddenly discovers tenderness for the first time in the fleeting visit of the fly-by-night father she barely knows. The author treats with equal care the inner doubts of the religious fanatic, the developmentally challenged woodcutter, and the dedicated environmentalist whose actions become destructive when he oversteps his authority. These are stories of the heart without hiding the violence that hovers nearby whenever we care deeply about anything.