Invisible Traffic

Deborah Ann Percy presents a stunning collection of desperate and gorgeous tales, set against the backdrop of Michigan s third coast. Percy's characters are mostly decent middle-class folks who want to live well and do little damage. They abandon those they love and are in turn abandoned; husbands vanish at the corner grocer, wives disappear into momentary affairs, and children swim willfully so far from shore that we despair of their safe return. It is Percy's great characters that move us, as we read purposefully, perhaps a bit wary as we dodge in and out of Invisible Traffic.

"These smart stories are full of surprises. Children get lost, lovers disappear, hearts break in complicated ways. Romantic relationships may be unreliable even decades-long marriages can seem fleeting but Lake Michigan and its beaches and summer cottages remain constant. Percy is a master at choosing the perfect detail of a Chicago apartment or a vacation cabin, the right metaphor. She depicts landscapes and human landscapes in a bright, concise prose style that is a pleasure to read."

--Bonnie Jo Campbell