A review by jayme
Five Preludes & a Fugue by Cheon Heerahn

emotional mysterious sad

5.0

Loved this! The story is framed through letters between a young woman and her adoptive mother discussing the suicide of her biological mother. But it's hard to talk about without mild

I really thought this was going to be a pretty standard slice of life short story. What I was not expecting was for this to turn into an unreliable/unlikeable narrator situation. It was so impressive the way it kept unfolding until, by the end, you can't even be sure of what the truth of her mother's death really was. I also love the clever beauty of the title.

So excited to continue in this chapbook series! Strangers Press is definitely a new favourite. They publish these beautiful chapbook series in sets of eight with each series focused on a different country. They currently have Korea, Japan, and the Netherlands. All of them are beautifully published and if this first story is any indication, then they've succeeded in their efforts to highlight great new voices. I hope they continue with this project. https://www.strangers.press/