Best Short-Fiction Book

Scene readers may know Betsy Phillips as a former longtime contributor to our politics blog, Pith in the Wind. Phillips made a seemingly effortless jump to fiction with her collection of short stories, Jesus Crawdad Death, published by Third Man Books in November. It’s comforting, fun to read, and further evidence of Phillips’ singular voice. There’s a line in the last chapter that I absolutely love: “It’s been a dry summer. The grass has done the best it can.” I’ve been thinking of it as a metaphor for a tough season. When life hands you scarcity, when it feels like there’s no rain coming to help you out, you just do the best you can with what you’ve been given. Sometimes it’s enough. AMANDA HAGGARD

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