What do you think?
Rate this book
Lake Effect
Winner of the 2024 Mary McCarthy Prize in Short Fiction, selected by Lauren Groff
A debut collection about the wild and hidden places in nature and the heart
From Seattle to Istanbul, Lake Effect, the debut short story collection by Hillary Behrman, takes you to unmapped mountain ranges, wild urban places and the outskirts of a desert outpost dissecting the many ways we love, labor and isolate ourselves from one another. In these stories characters are rarely headed where they want to Paula’s real and dream life become indistinguishable. Oliver can’t shed the hold of family lore as he negotiates his love affair with Daniel. Siblings, Alex and Marcie, are comforted and scraped raw by intimacy as they traverse the years from juvenile vandalism to a labor and delivery gone terribly wrong. Miles searches for his mother in a homeless encampment beneath a maze of freeways. These stories exist at the intersection of social isolation and fierce intimacies and call into question the limits of our well-intentioned efforts to care for each other.
A debut collection about the wild and hidden places in nature and the heart
From Seattle to Istanbul, Lake Effect, the debut short story collection by Hillary Behrman, takes you to unmapped mountain ranges, wild urban places and the outskirts of a desert outpost dissecting the many ways we love, labor and isolate ourselves from one another. In these stories characters are rarely headed where they want to Paula’s real and dream life become indistinguishable. Oliver can’t shed the hold of family lore as he negotiates his love affair with Daniel. Siblings, Alex and Marcie, are comforted and scraped raw by intimacy as they traverse the years from juvenile vandalism to a labor and delivery gone terribly wrong. Miles searches for his mother in a homeless encampment beneath a maze of freeways. These stories exist at the intersection of social isolation and fierce intimacies and call into question the limits of our well-intentioned efforts to care for each other.
- GenresShort StoriesScience
Kindle Edition
Published May 12, 2026
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
June 26, 2026
Absolutely stunning and so well-crafted. One of the best short story collections I've read in a long time.
June 17, 2026
Gorgeous, gripping, and tender.
May 12, 2026
Really fantastic collection of stories! Highly recommend.
July 20, 2026
Tbh didn’t realize this was short stories when I bought it. I really liked it tho.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews