After the deft language of these first powerhouse stories in Mrs. Somebody, Somebody, “Frankie Floats” makes less of an impact on the reader. But this is not to say the story is weak; rather it is a backhanded compliment to suggest that Ms. Winn’s lesser stories are equal to any found in a quality literary magazine.

Both “Frankie Floats” and “Another Way To Make Cleopatra Cry” lack Winn’s strongest trait, of which “Copper Leaves Waving” is a fine example. In this story, she manages to write about the nebulous feeling of familiarity that overtakes — even drowns — us when memory of place sparks a connection in the brain. This is a feeling that is difficult, at best, to try and write about and Winn is adept at leaving her reader both awed and quieted with her tone and diction:

Winn steps back and forth through some of Lowell’s postwar years, with the result that several times we catch sight of a character met in an earlier story, recognizing something about his or her mannerisms or appearance before we actually know who it is. In the final story, for instance, we glimpse little Izabel and her sister Lina from an earlier story, and the instant of recognition delivers a warm surprise, something akin to running into a familiar face while traveling in a foreign country. Earlier, in “Cantagallo,” Izabel was shown wearing a pair of red high tops given to her by Lina, the sister with a lovely singing voice who is serving in Iraq. So though we never actually meet Lina, we recognize her instantly when, in “Luck Be A Lady,” the protagonist mentions the beautiful song of a young female as she gets on the bus with a younger girl in red high tops. It is a small moment packed with huge emotion, reminding us in that briefest glimpse of Lina that she was once very much alive in this small town, and that if she dies in the Iraq war, her ghost will live on in Izabel’s red high tops and the memories of her beautiful voice.

“Luck Be A Lady” is a brilliant cap to this powerhouse debut. We come full circle from meeting Stella in “Mrs. Somebody Somebody” to the love of her life, Frenchie Duras, a man who “lived alone with his secrets.” But it is his way of dealing with the guilt and shame of his past, memories that eat at him when he understands his heart is giving out and he is dying, that endears Frenchie to us. When he finds a stone wall heaved apart by frost, he spends years of physical labour rebuilding it, using his body to cleanse his emotional burdens:

And while he works on that stone wall, inside Frenchie’s shirt pocket is a small bone from Stella’s remains. Once again Winn has created a character it is difficult not to fall in love with. We identify and empathize with Frenchie’s flaws as proof of another human being just trying to cope with life.