Small Marvels: Stories

by Scott Russell Sanders

In Limestone, Indiana, a city tucked away among forested hills, peculiar things happen, often in the vicinity of a jack-of-all-trades named Gordon Mills. Centaurs and nymphs shelter in a local cave, alligators lurk in the sewers, warm snow falls on the Fourth of July, cornstalks rise higher than chimneys, and the northern lights shine down on the municipal dump.

Gordon takes such events in stride and deals with them as part of his work on the city maintenance crew. He earns just enough to support a boisterous family, which includes his formidable wife Mabel, their four children, Mabel's parents, and his widowed mother―nine souls packed into an old house that falls apart as fast as Gordon can fix it.

Part folktale, part tall tale, part comic romance, Small Marvels revels in the wonders of everyday life. So, welcome to Limestone, Indiana. You won't find it on a map, but you may remember visiting the place in dreams, the rare, blissful ones in which puzzles are solved, kids flourish, hard work pays off, and love endures.

Genres: Fiction, Short Stories

214 pages, Paperback

Published May 31, 2022

About the author

Scott Russell Sanders is the award-winning author of A Private History of Awe, Hunting for Hope, A Conservationist Manifesto, Dancing in Dreamtime, and two dozen other books of fiction, personal narrative, and essays. His father came from a family of cotton farmers in Mississippi, his mother from an immigrant doctor’s family in Chicago. He spent his early childhood in Tennessee and his school years in Ohio, Rhode Island, and Cambridge, England.

In his writing he is concerned with our place in nature, the practice of community, and the search for a spiritual path. He and his wife, Ruth, a biochemist, have reared two children in their hometown of Bloomington, in the hardwood hill country of southern Indiana. You can visit Scott at www.scottrussellsanders.com.

In August 2020, Counterpoint Press will publish his new collection of essays, The Way of Imagination, a reflection on healing and renewal in a time of climate disruption. He is currently at work on a collection of short stories inspired by photographs.

Reviews

[Stuart · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a wonderful book and (I rarely say this) a must-read for the summer. Here's what I recently emailed to Scott about his most recent publication:

"I just finished Small Marvels – a gloriously charming and thoroughly Midwestern book, so enjoyable to read that I’d rather re-read it again than read anything else (until you write Volume Two, the further adventures of this loving, quirky family when they finally, at long last, begin their special holiday at the Dunes). There’s much of you in these pages - I remember your anecdote about fixing things - so much so that I feel as if I know your wife and children, too. This book’s evidence to anyone who doubts there is Beauty and Magic to be found in Hoosier caves and fossils and maintenance yards, and (of course) in the hearts of the people who live here, and I could not go on with my day until I sent you this Thank You because this book is a gift to any reader fortunate enough to spend a day immersed in these stories."

If you only read one book this summer, read this one!

[Amy Mittelman · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book. The writing was very good and the author conveyed the humanity of the characters beautifully. Both funny and sad, Small Marvels shows that ordinary people can do extraordinary things by the relationships they have and what they do for and with the people in their lives. I could have kept reading more about Gordon Mills and his family. I was sorry when it ended.

[Lauren Stoolfire · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really well written, but not quite my style.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Whimsical and fanciful, "Small Marvels" is a story that will warm your heart. Gordon Mills is a humble, honorable, honest, hard-working man. He works for the maintenance department of the small midwestern town of Limestone, Indiana. His life is filled with simple pleasures and fantastical adventures. It's hard to categorize this book. There is no plot, per se, as each chapter tells a complete story about an incident in Gordon's ordinary but amazing life. You meet his family, his wife Mabel, their four children, his mother, and Mabel's parents. All live mostly contentedly in their modest home. They don't have much in the way of worldly possessions, but they are rich in love, respect, humor, and magic. Not the hocus pocus kind of magic, with spells and such, but the magic of believing that something extraordinary can happen in the most ordinary of places. Reading this book is like being wrapped in a literary hug.

[Anson Reynolds · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book reminds of my favorite childhood stories. The ones where I wasn’t bombarded by the author or smothered by unnecessary language.

The story is simple and wonderful and absolutely fantastic. I’m from Indiana, and it was so special to see my world represented in such a sincere way.

I adore this book. Thank you Scott Russel Sanders.

[Michael Jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful collection of interrelated stories about the Mils family. The writing is easy to read and the stories prompt smiles and reflections.

[Marti · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book of short stories, lent to me by a friend, one a day.

Sweet stories set in small town Indiana. Sure did make me smile.

[Scott Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Small Marvels is a charming, stirring and deceptively profound collection of tales. I say "deceptively profound" because Sanders tells these stories in such a matter-of-fact way that it's often only after I've read a story and contemplated it for a while do I understand the deep waters flowing through it.

Though there were many stories that moved me, my favorite is "Fossil." I love how Sanders introduces a mysterious fossil in the ground that our protagonist, Gordon, describes as looking very much like a businessman. However, the story takes a number of surprising turns that leave us wondering what's real and what's not and just what it means to be a fossil in the first place. I so appreciate that resonance and profoundness.

This is a collection that invites you to fall in love with Gordon and his family, while exploring the underground aquifer of commonality that unites us all.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read.
Thank you for the copy.

[Darlene Bricker · Rating 3 out of 5]

Charming and a little weird. Not a page turner but I enjoyed reading small portions at a time. And I loved the Indiana references.