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What Mennonite Girls Are Good For
In these eleven stories, a Mennonite minister’s daughter moves from a youthful, exuberant understanding of her family’s faith toward religious doubt. Stumbling comically at times, Ruthie navigates life with and without the rules in which she’s been raised. Always physical, often sexual, Ruthie’s search for personal truth leads her from missionary outposts in Paraguay and Brazil to Mennonite towns in northern Indiana and central Kansas, a vandalized Native American site, women’s healthcare clinics, and lingerie shops on the secular, melancholy East Coast. Ultimately, these stories consider how faith and identity intertwine, the cost of abandoning one’s cultural heritage, and the complicated longing for return.
- GenresShort Stories
166 pages, Paperback
Published November 25, 2025
3 people are currently reading
35 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Sears
2 books3 followersJennifer Sears is the author of What Mennonite Girls Are Good For, winner of the John Simmons Short Fiction Award judged by the novelist Margot Livesey. The book will be published by the University of Iowa Press in November 2025.
She has won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation of the Arts, and the 2024 NeMLA Fiction Book Award for a novel manuscript. Her stories and essays have been cited in Best American Essays, Best American Short Stories, and Best American Nonrequired Reading. She writes a newsletter about reading, writing, and teaching writing: Si Omnia Ficta…if all is fiction.
She has won fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation of the Arts, and the 2024 NeMLA Fiction Book Award for a novel manuscript. Her stories and essays have been cited in Best American Essays, Best American Short Stories, and Best American Nonrequired Reading. She writes a newsletter about reading, writing, and teaching writing: Si Omnia Ficta…if all is fiction.
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
November 25, 2025
This book is a collection of eleven short stories that appear to be spaced in roughly chronological order (except for the final short story) of snippets from the life of a fictional girl/woman named Ruthie. The first story of Ruthie is as a fourth grade child of missionaries in Paraguay, next she's a fourteen year old in southern California, then she's in high school in northern Indiana, then she's in a psychiatric ward (probably for anorexia but that word is not used), and then on to various encounters and experiences from the life of an adult woman. The eleventh and last story has Ruthie as a child again together in a family gathering that waits through violent weather on a beach in South America.
It's obvious to me that even though the stories in this book may be fictional, they have been taken from the author's own lived experiences and those around her. The author's father was a Mennonite pastor and past mission worker, and I suspect that the subsequent geographic locations of the book's stories, from Paraguay to California to Indiana to Kansas to New York, also follow the author's own life history.
Though the book's title uses the word Mennonite and there are scattered references to it throughout the book, the stories are not religious in nature unless one wishes to interpret them to be stories of a life in rebellion against what might normally be expected of a "Mennonite girl." Almost all the stories include sexual thoughts or display, and one story includes a description of exploitation of a child. Thus I consider the stories to be adult material that are well written and perhaps thought provoking, but for me they were not particularly enjoyable to read.
I had access to a prepublication ebook edition of this book using the NetGalley Reader. I was attracted to the story by the title's use of the word Mennonite since I'm a Mennonite.
It's obvious to me that even though the stories in this book may be fictional, they have been taken from the author's own lived experiences and those around her. The author's father was a Mennonite pastor and past mission worker, and I suspect that the subsequent geographic locations of the book's stories, from Paraguay to California to Indiana to Kansas to New York, also follow the author's own life history.
Though the book's title uses the word Mennonite and there are scattered references to it throughout the book, the stories are not religious in nature unless one wishes to interpret them to be stories of a life in rebellion against what might normally be expected of a "Mennonite girl." Almost all the stories include sexual thoughts or display, and one story includes a description of exploitation of a child. Thus I consider the stories to be adult material that are well written and perhaps thought provoking, but for me they were not particularly enjoyable to read.
I had access to a prepublication ebook edition of this book using the NetGalley Reader. I was attracted to the story by the title's use of the word Mennonite since I'm a Mennonite.
September 16, 2025
4.5 Stars
I don't know that I've read a book quite like this before. Told in 11 short stories, each one crackles with an importance of its own while contributing to the larger narrative. Reading it feels almost voyeuristic, as though you are seeing the key events in a person's life that for better or worse makes them who they are. Those events are mundane, some are terrifying, others only deeply sad, and yet the importance of each reverberates throughout the prose.
The final story, told uniquely from the perspective of the protagonist's grandfather is beautiful and haunting, masterfully synthesizing the meaning of the first ten stories in comparatively so few words. It is distressingly human and an excellent book.
Thank you to NetGalley and The University of Iowa Press for advanced access to this book scheduled for released November 25, 2025 at time of writing.
I don't know that I've read a book quite like this before. Told in 11 short stories, each one crackles with an importance of its own while contributing to the larger narrative. Reading it feels almost voyeuristic, as though you are seeing the key events in a person's life that for better or worse makes them who they are. Those events are mundane, some are terrifying, others only deeply sad, and yet the importance of each reverberates throughout the prose.
The final story, told uniquely from the perspective of the protagonist's grandfather is beautiful and haunting, masterfully synthesizing the meaning of the first ten stories in comparatively so few words. It is distressingly human and an excellent book.
Thank you to NetGalley and The University of Iowa Press for advanced access to this book scheduled for released November 25, 2025 at time of writing.
December 24, 2025
5 stars because i was raised in the unsaid rules and know the need to make comfortable and be perfectly perfect ; tendencies i have observed my female relatives organize themselves around and standards i’ve tried to confront in myself. unsettling and strange to read these things on the page, the gray midwestern towns, the quiet righteousness in putting oneself in danger to be Nice, the disinvestment of the body and of intuition (we are in the world not of it), old angers from great grandfathers losing ministries through an unlucky drawing of lots (the will of God). the title could well suggest a chirpy cheeky exaltation of the particularities of american mennonite culture but instead the lack of finality in its preposition points at its quietly precarious expectations.
November 25, 2025
Happy publication day to What Mennonite Girls Are Good For! Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC.
This is a short, sharp coming-of-age collection that will land very differently depending on who you are.
When I started this, I wasn’t sure. The prose in the first chapter felt chaotic and cryptic—like trying to read through static. But as the stories progress, the writing becomes clearer and the perspective shifts from distant third person to direct first person. That evolution ends up mirroring Ruthie’s internal journey: a girl who doesn’t have the language for her own life slowly stepping into her own voice.
The book is told as 11 chronological vignettes, and each story begins like you’ve been thrown into a moment with no context. Normally I’d hate that. Here, it works. It mirrors how memory, faith, and harm resurface in fragments, only becoming legible later.
Despite the title, there isn’t much explicit “Mennonite” on the page. If you go in expecting a cultural explainer, you’ll be confused. The book never pauses to define anything. And for me, that was the point. As someone raised Mennonite and who left the faith, I understood the quiet rules, the niceness mandate, the guilt wiring, the way girls are trained to ignore their instincts because being “good” matters more than being safe.
Readers without that background may feel the title is misleading. For me, it made perfect sense.
A beautifully understated, resonant book—especially for anyone shaped by a religious upbringing that hangs around long after you walk away.
This is a short, sharp coming-of-age collection that will land very differently depending on who you are.
When I started this, I wasn’t sure. The prose in the first chapter felt chaotic and cryptic—like trying to read through static. But as the stories progress, the writing becomes clearer and the perspective shifts from distant third person to direct first person. That evolution ends up mirroring Ruthie’s internal journey: a girl who doesn’t have the language for her own life slowly stepping into her own voice.
The book is told as 11 chronological vignettes, and each story begins like you’ve been thrown into a moment with no context. Normally I’d hate that. Here, it works. It mirrors how memory, faith, and harm resurface in fragments, only becoming legible later.
Despite the title, there isn’t much explicit “Mennonite” on the page. If you go in expecting a cultural explainer, you’ll be confused. The book never pauses to define anything. And for me, that was the point. As someone raised Mennonite and who left the faith, I understood the quiet rules, the niceness mandate, the guilt wiring, the way girls are trained to ignore their instincts because being “good” matters more than being safe.
Readers without that background may feel the title is misleading. For me, it made perfect sense.
A beautifully understated, resonant book—especially for anyone shaped by a religious upbringing that hangs around long after you walk away.
January 8, 2026
What Mennonite Girls Are Good For is a sharp, intimate, and quietly provocative collection of short stories that traces one woman’s evolving relationship with faith, identity, and autonomy. Through the recurring character of Ruthie, Jennifer Sears offers a nuanced portrait of a Mennonite minister’s daughter moving from youthful devotion toward skepticism, self examination, and a complicated reckoning with her religious inheritance.
Ruthie’s journey unfolds across continents and communities from missionary outposts in Paraguay and Brazil to Mennonite towns in the American Midwest and the melancholy secular landscapes of the East Coast. Sears skillfully grounds these varied settings in the physical and emotional realities of Ruthie’s experiences, creating stories that feel deeply embodied, often sensual, and emotionally honest. The prose is clear-eyed and unsentimental, balancing humor and discomfort with striking precision.
What makes this collection particularly compelling is its refusal to simplify belief or rebellion. Ruthie’s doubts are not framed as a clean escape from faith, nor is her upbringing reduced to caricature. Instead, Sears explores the lingering pull of community, ritual, and moral certainty even as Ruthie navigates sexuality, women’s healthcare spaces, cultural dislocation, and the costs of self definition outside prescribed roles.
The stories grapple thoughtfully with the tensions between obedience and desire, belonging and estrangement, reverence and resistance. Moments of comic misstep sit alongside scenes of quiet devastation, revealing how deeply faith can shape the body as well as the mind. Sears’s portrayal of religious womanhood is complex, compassionate, and unsparing, allowing Ruthie to exist fully within contradiction.
What Mennonite Girls Are Good For is a powerful debut collection that will resonate with readers interested in stories of religious upbringing, feminist self-discovery, and the long shadow of faith. It is an accomplished exploration of what it means to leave a world behind—and what it means to long for parts of it still.
Ruthie’s journey unfolds across continents and communities from missionary outposts in Paraguay and Brazil to Mennonite towns in the American Midwest and the melancholy secular landscapes of the East Coast. Sears skillfully grounds these varied settings in the physical and emotional realities of Ruthie’s experiences, creating stories that feel deeply embodied, often sensual, and emotionally honest. The prose is clear-eyed and unsentimental, balancing humor and discomfort with striking precision.
What makes this collection particularly compelling is its refusal to simplify belief or rebellion. Ruthie’s doubts are not framed as a clean escape from faith, nor is her upbringing reduced to caricature. Instead, Sears explores the lingering pull of community, ritual, and moral certainty even as Ruthie navigates sexuality, women’s healthcare spaces, cultural dislocation, and the costs of self definition outside prescribed roles.
The stories grapple thoughtfully with the tensions between obedience and desire, belonging and estrangement, reverence and resistance. Moments of comic misstep sit alongside scenes of quiet devastation, revealing how deeply faith can shape the body as well as the mind. Sears’s portrayal of religious womanhood is complex, compassionate, and unsparing, allowing Ruthie to exist fully within contradiction.
What Mennonite Girls Are Good For is a powerful debut collection that will resonate with readers interested in stories of religious upbringing, feminist self-discovery, and the long shadow of faith. It is an accomplished exploration of what it means to leave a world behind—and what it means to long for parts of it still.
December 13, 2025
Where to start? My thoughts on this book are scattered, just like this book. I got through it, but it was a struggle. Certain themes strung together in what seemed to be a collection of short stories, yet they also felt a little as though they were poorly placed chapters of a novel that the author just couldn't find a way to make work as a whole.
If you are looking for a book about the Mennonite way of life, even if gone astray, this is not the book. It's obvious that she either has a Mennonite background, or at least, understands the lifestyle quite well. But what you read in here has very little of that that comes through. Instead, it's more the story of a wayward young woman trying to find herself as she loses her way even further along her path in life. Some of it even borders on softcore porn which could have played out okay early on with the story about anorexia nervosa if she could have masterfully used the her strict cultural conditioning as the premise for her illness. I thought that she was going onto something worth reading there. But no, she then totally breaks it off and goes onto something altogether different. Some repeated themes while other times venturing into the wild with other ideas altogether.
Ultimately, this book reads more like a writer's workbook trying to flesh out ideas and concepts that might eventually work their way into a full out novel. Maybe one day they will. Instead, I felt like these were sketches and ideas being pawned off as short stories that just didn't play out all that well. More of a scattered mess than anything. A few good ideas that could have worked out, but never found their way into what I felt was worthy of a finished product. Hopefully, the author will hone in on some of the better ideas and work them up to something much more worth putting out into the public domain.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the ebook in lieu of an honest review.
If you are looking for a book about the Mennonite way of life, even if gone astray, this is not the book. It's obvious that she either has a Mennonite background, or at least, understands the lifestyle quite well. But what you read in here has very little of that that comes through. Instead, it's more the story of a wayward young woman trying to find herself as she loses her way even further along her path in life. Some of it even borders on softcore porn which could have played out okay early on with the story about anorexia nervosa if she could have masterfully used the her strict cultural conditioning as the premise for her illness. I thought that she was going onto something worth reading there. But no, she then totally breaks it off and goes onto something altogether different. Some repeated themes while other times venturing into the wild with other ideas altogether.
Ultimately, this book reads more like a writer's workbook trying to flesh out ideas and concepts that might eventually work their way into a full out novel. Maybe one day they will. Instead, I felt like these were sketches and ideas being pawned off as short stories that just didn't play out all that well. More of a scattered mess than anything. A few good ideas that could have worked out, but never found their way into what I felt was worthy of a finished product. Hopefully, the author will hone in on some of the better ideas and work them up to something much more worth putting out into the public domain.
Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for a copy of the ebook in lieu of an honest review.
November 24, 2025
What Mennonite Girls are Good For is a collection of 11 chronological vignettes capturing different moments of Ruthie's life from her childhood in Paraguay as the daughter of a Mennonite missionary and in a community where physical and sexual and sexual abuse were open secrets, through a pregnancy scare and anorexia in her teen years, to an adulthood involving unhealthy relationships and job hopping. Most of the stories were told from an omniscient perspective, or from Ruthie's perspective, but the final chapter was from the perspective of Ruthie's grandfather and took us back to her childhood. For me, it was a very effective way to end the book, reminding me of the answer to the "Why Ruthie? Why?" questions I sometimes found myself asking. It was interesting that her grandfather had been able to see the trajectory of Ruthie's life, even when she was so young.This book that left me feeling profoundly sad, since Ruthie's life seemed to involve lots of bad choices and poor decisions, often made, one suspects in opposition, even subconsciously, to religion in which she was raised but which she did not continue to believe and follow, or at the very least reflected her struggles to figure out who she was when she was no longer a Mennonite girl. A quiet and compassionate exploration of the impact rigid religious expectations and trauma can have on a woman's life that's well worth a read.
November 3, 2025
“You were raised to live in a certain world. You were given rules, rules that exist with people who believe a certain way. No matter where you go, you’ll keep running from that world that doesn’t fit you. That doesn’t fit us. But neither does the outside of that world.”
These are brief pieces with a depth of writing that touch on growing up in the church, distancing yourself, exploring sexuality and faith and how these two exist together (or don’t). The main character, Ruthie, starts as a young girl and is portrayed through various iterations as we see her grow within a harsh lens. I hated the story of the airline pilot because I felt dirty after reading it and yet, I understood it because, as reflected in the titular chapter, “Don’t reject him. Don’t make him feel unwanted. Yes, mother. Nice, nice, nice.” Ruthie is driven by the way others perceive her - a nice Mennonite girl.
“Ruthie longs, sometimes, to be that kid again, that kid who could believe in things. But in the mirror in front of her, she only sees a naked girl on the edge of a bed in a motel room surrounded by prairie, listening for sirens.”
Thank you to NetGalley and the University of Iowa Press for this piece.
These are brief pieces with a depth of writing that touch on growing up in the church, distancing yourself, exploring sexuality and faith and how these two exist together (or don’t). The main character, Ruthie, starts as a young girl and is portrayed through various iterations as we see her grow within a harsh lens. I hated the story of the airline pilot because I felt dirty after reading it and yet, I understood it because, as reflected in the titular chapter, “Don’t reject him. Don’t make him feel unwanted. Yes, mother. Nice, nice, nice.” Ruthie is driven by the way others perceive her - a nice Mennonite girl.
“Ruthie longs, sometimes, to be that kid again, that kid who could believe in things. But in the mirror in front of her, she only sees a naked girl on the edge of a bed in a motel room surrounded by prairie, listening for sirens.”
Thank you to NetGalley and the University of Iowa Press for this piece.
December 13, 2025
I found this book very perplexing. Is it a continuous story - is it separate short stories with the same character? That is only part of the reason why it took me so long to finish the book and to give my input (which I do on a regular basis). The author's writing style is quite lovely, evocative in style to an old Hollywood style manuscript - lyrical, evoking vivid pictures and characters. I just the wish the book felt more cohesive.
I had great sympathy for the main character, who has been taught from very young, to listen to her elders, be a good girl, be conscious of the comfort of others (physically and emotionally), and suffers the consequences of poor boundary setting examples. Very little is written about her twin sister, who it would appear, was able to rise above the same environmental exposures.
Then there is the title, which I found a bit off-putting, mildly demeaning. Just as the Amish have different sects, so do the Mennonites. Painting all Mennonite women and girls with the same paintbrush does them a grave injustice. It left me wondering if these were vignettes of the author's personal experience, or assumptions made in styling the book, and they unfortunately, for me, overshadowed her lovely writing abilities.
I had great sympathy for the main character, who has been taught from very young, to listen to her elders, be a good girl, be conscious of the comfort of others (physically and emotionally), and suffers the consequences of poor boundary setting examples. Very little is written about her twin sister, who it would appear, was able to rise above the same environmental exposures.
Then there is the title, which I found a bit off-putting, mildly demeaning. Just as the Amish have different sects, so do the Mennonites. Painting all Mennonite women and girls with the same paintbrush does them a grave injustice. It left me wondering if these were vignettes of the author's personal experience, or assumptions made in styling the book, and they unfortunately, for me, overshadowed her lovely writing abilities.
January 7, 2026
What Mennonite Girls Are Good For is a sharp, tender, and quietly provocative collection of stories that traces one woman’s evolving relationship with faith, desire, and personal freedom.
Through Ruthie’s voice, Jennifer Sears captures the uneasy transition from youthful devotion to questioning and doubt with honesty and nuance. These stories are often funny, sometimes painful, and always deeply human. Ruthie’s physicality her body, her desires, her restlessness becomes a lens through which belief is tested and redefined.
The range of settings, from missionary outposts in Paraguay and Brazil to Mennonite communities in the American Midwest and the secular East Coast, mirrors Ruthie’s internal movement between belonging and estrangement. Sears writes with a keen eye for detail and contradiction, allowing moments of humor to coexist with longing, regret, and self-recognition.
What makes this collection especially compelling is its refusal to offer easy answers. These stories acknowledge both the cost of leaving a faith community and the ache of wanting to return, even when return is impossible. What Mennonite Girls Are Good For is an insightful, emotionally resonant exploration of how belief shapes identity and what happens when that belief begins to unravel.
Through Ruthie’s voice, Jennifer Sears captures the uneasy transition from youthful devotion to questioning and doubt with honesty and nuance. These stories are often funny, sometimes painful, and always deeply human. Ruthie’s physicality her body, her desires, her restlessness becomes a lens through which belief is tested and redefined.
The range of settings, from missionary outposts in Paraguay and Brazil to Mennonite communities in the American Midwest and the secular East Coast, mirrors Ruthie’s internal movement between belonging and estrangement. Sears writes with a keen eye for detail and contradiction, allowing moments of humor to coexist with longing, regret, and self-recognition.
What makes this collection especially compelling is its refusal to offer easy answers. These stories acknowledge both the cost of leaving a faith community and the ache of wanting to return, even when return is impossible. What Mennonite Girls Are Good For is an insightful, emotionally resonant exploration of how belief shapes identity and what happens when that belief begins to unravel.
December 12, 2025
What Mennonite Girls Are Good For by Jennifer Sears is a compelling collection of eleven stories following Ruthie, a Mennonite minister’s daughter, as she navigates faith, identity, and personal discovery. The stories balance humor, emotional depth, and keen observation, capturing Ruthie’s journey from youthful adherence to religious doubt, and the complexities of living both within and outside her cultural heritage. Sears masterfully portrays her character’s struggles, desires, and comical missteps, offering readers insight into the tensions between faith, culture, and self discovery.
The collection stands out for its wit, candor, and the vivid settings that take Ruthie from missionary outposts in Paraguay and Brazil to Mennonite towns in Indiana and Kansas, and further afield to secular spaces on the East Coast. The stories are physical, often intimate, and always honest, blending personal exploration with broader reflections on heritage, longing, and identity. Sears’s voice is perceptive, engaging, and at times irreverently funny, making the collection both thought-provoking and enjoyable.
The collection stands out for its wit, candor, and the vivid settings that take Ruthie from missionary outposts in Paraguay and Brazil to Mennonite towns in Indiana and Kansas, and further afield to secular spaces on the East Coast. The stories are physical, often intimate, and always honest, blending personal exploration with broader reflections on heritage, longing, and identity. Sears’s voice is perceptive, engaging, and at times irreverently funny, making the collection both thought-provoking and enjoyable.
November 20, 2025
The book is sold in different short stories at different stages of the main characters life. It is disorienting when she goes from being a missionary kid to posing naked for a dirty old photographer. I never really understood why the character did what she did. She seemed to crave men's attention but never chose wisely. The quote from the book "Weak. Nice. Doing God's work. That's what Mennonite girls were good for mad me think the young lady could have been an amazing woman if she was every taught to be strong. It would have been a 2 star read except for the last chapter when you get a veiwpoint of the main character as a young girl through the eyes of her grandfather. He sees her as feeling too much and as someone who would be crushed by her religion. I just found the whole book really sad.
November 21, 2025
The novel, What Mennonite Girls Are Good For, offers insight into one woman’s perspective from childhood to adulthood.
The reader follows her journey as she seeks to break free of her religious upbringing and discover her true identity. Told in eleven vignettes, it portrays Ruthie’s life through a Mennonite lens. Her experiences are bleak, painful, and provocative—offering a critical view of her religion.
I found the novel very interesting yet disturbing, and I completed it in a few hours. The reader discovers the brutal effects of the Mennonite way of life in the last chapter, as told by her grandfather, who struggles to make sense of it himself.
The reader follows her journey as she seeks to break free of her religious upbringing and discover her true identity. Told in eleven vignettes, it portrays Ruthie’s life through a Mennonite lens. Her experiences are bleak, painful, and provocative—offering a critical view of her religion.
I found the novel very interesting yet disturbing, and I completed it in a few hours. The reader discovers the brutal effects of the Mennonite way of life in the last chapter, as told by her grandfather, who struggles to make sense of it himself.
November 11, 2025
I'm not sure what I expected from this book, but I enjoyed the way the author took us through it with connected stories. I felt a little disoriented each time I started a new one, but I came to appreciate the author's skill. The writing itself is beautiful--concise but descriptive--which is not an easy feat to accomplish. It's the kind of book where you can appreciate each sentence.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. It resonated well with me.
Thank you to NetGalley for an advance copy of this book. It resonated well with me.
January 19, 2026
Realistic fiction.
Reads like a memoir with 11 short stories about a minister’s daughter growing up. Supposedly, Ruthie is trying to figure out how her faith and identity. Can’t really do that if the story gives me zero details about the faith, except to be good. A few stories felt like confused ramblings. Others left me wanting more details, such as times the family traveled to foreign countries doing missionary work.
Overall a disappointment.
Reads like a memoir with 11 short stories about a minister’s daughter growing up. Supposedly, Ruthie is trying to figure out how her faith and identity. Can’t really do that if the story gives me zero details about the faith, except to be good. A few stories felt like confused ramblings. Others left me wanting more details, such as times the family traveled to foreign countries doing missionary work.
Overall a disappointment.
October 31, 2025
Unfortunately I am DNFing this book. I wanted so much to love this but its just not my kind of book. Its not at all what I thought it would be. I hope many other people enjoy it.
These eleven stories trace a Mennonite minister’s daughter’s shift from youthful faith to religious doubt.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. Publication date is November 25, 2025.
These eleven stories trace a Mennonite minister’s daughter’s shift from youthful faith to religious doubt.
Thank you to NetGalley for an ARC of this book. Publication date is November 25, 2025.
November 14, 2025
This book is nothing like I was expecting. There was both so much depth and meaning in these stories, but also I wanted more. I think this definitely gives an interesting perspective on what it was like to be Ruthie, but overall this style of writing was not for me.
Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
Thank you to NetGalley and publishers for the ARC. All opinions are my own.
December 24, 2025
I found these linked short stories very well written and also unsettling. Some of the settings intersect with places I have lived- northern Indiana, south central Kansas, and Wayne and Holmes Counties in Ohio. I especially liked the title story, and I learned, for the first time, about the petroglyphs in Ellsworth County, Kansas.
December 31, 2025
A series of short stories about Ruthie, a Mennonite girl raised in a missionary family and stories about her later encounters in life. I don't remember much except I enjoyed what I read.
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