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Seven Stories Press

Works of Radical Imagination

Book cover for Borrowed Hearts
Book cover for Borrowed HeartsBook cover for Borrowed Hearts

*Introduction by James Welch**

Borrowed Hearts traces the development of Rick DeMarinis's incantatory voice, including both his most recent work and stories selected from his three previous, highly acclaimed collections: Under Wheat (1986), the winner of the Drue Heinz Literature Prize for short fiction; The Coming of the Free World, a New York Times Notable Book (1988); and The Voice of America (1991). The title story was included in 1991's The Best Stories of the South, and "Your Story" was chosen to be read on National Public Radio's Selected Shorts.

Book cover for Borrowed Hearts
Book cover for Borrowed HeartsBook cover for Borrowed Hearts

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“This greatest-hits anthology … serves as an ideal curbside roost from which to contemplate his tantalizing, if often brooding, artistry.”

“This career-synthesizing collection of stories lands [DeMarinis] on the shelf right next to Flannery O'Connor, another writer who shined a divine light on ordinary saints and sinners.”

“The beauty of reading DeMarinis's work in bulk; by the end of the 32-story collection, even the weirdest notions seem plausible: Wimpy men with murder in their hearts, cruel slovenly women, and nasty little kids no longer induce winces. Instead, they seem genuine, faintly familiar, and never, ever boring.”

Rick DeMarinis

RICK DEMARINIS was the highly acclaimed author of ten novels, including Mama's Boy and The Year of the Zinc Penny, a New York Times Notable book, as well as six short story col­lections, including Apocalypse Then and Borrowed Hearts. In 1990, he received a Literature Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. Each year, Cutthroat: A Journal of the Arts, awards a short story prize in his name. Rick passed away on June 12, 2019.