Five Tuesdays in Winter

The stories in this astounding collection show women and men in various stages of self-discovery, searching, and change. The very young girl in “Creature” is the recipient of tantalizing but unwanted attention from a troubled married man, while the bookstore owner in the title story navigates a frightening new attraction in the wake of his wife’s abandonment. Other characters, too, face uneasy terrain after loved ones die or leave. “When in the Dordogne” portrays the deep impact kind strangers can have on a life; “North Sea” reveals the cruelty grief can elicit. Lily King gave readers an unforgettable young writer in her last novel, Writers & Lovers, and “Timeline” returns to that territory of art and ambition.

Violence, devastation, and sadness mark the final stories in the collection, “Hotel Seattle,” “Waiting for Charlie,” “Mansard,” and “South.” Yet King saves the most shocking for last in “The Man at the Door,” which turns again to a young writer, who this time is also a new mother confronted with a vision of her future that elicits a kind of horror that will change the entire course of her life. This entire collection is stunning, each story a punch to the gut. It’s a must-read this fall.