Flight Path and Other Stories

by Jan Bowman

The stories in Flight Path & Other Stories reveal the power of kindness. In difficult moments of human contact, explored from childhood through old age, this collection provides a window into the kindness all people seek in moments of sorrow. In her poem Kindness, Naomi Shihab Nye writes that when you know sorrow as the other deepest thing . . . then it is only kindness that makes sense anymore. from - Kindness in Words Under The Selected Poems (1995) by Naomi Shihab Nye. The dynamic mix of characters in these stories, know much about sorrow. They know it in the burden of a wife looking after her war-damaged husband and the son who confronts her more than 35 years after she abandons them. They know it in the struggle to hide from violence of the world, even though violence finds them. But they do know kindness, too. They know it in the unspoken understanding between a young man and his elderly aunt in the aftermath of a violent murder. They know it in small gestures between friends, and even strangers, after a sudden death, as well as through the unexpected connections found on the other end of the phone or a shared meal.

106 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 2015

Reviews

[Betsy Ashton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jan Bowman delivers a short story collection rich in emotion with often elegant prose. Whether it's the title story, "Flight Path," where a woman trapped in marriage to an alcoholic makes a fateful decision that will haunt her and her son forever.

Friendship of the most unexpected kind in "After the Rain" lay grounds for hope for the downtrodden as the narrator makes decisions to protect herself from her greedy son-in-law.

"The Arrow Marks Me" lays open the fears women face when a mammogram comes back positive.

I don't know which story is my favorite. I thought it was the one I just finished, until I started a new one.

This belongs on every short-story reader's shelf -- only after you've read it.

[Susanmbuckingham · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great little book of short stories about people who are at a point in their lives where they have to make choices. It's about the young, the middle-aged, the old, and all sorts of people who have had events bring them to a point of change. Excellent and absorbing stories.

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

Loved many of the stories. "Rabbits" is a tough read, but real.

[JeanneKetley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really powerful collection. Beautiful lyrical stories.

[Mike Burrell · Rating 5 out of 5]

While reading Flight Path & Other Stories by Jan Bowman, I kept thinking I knew many of these characters. That feeling came from being totally absorbed in a rich, deeply imagined collection of short fiction, ripped from the joy and trauma of everyday life in the U.S.A.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jan Bowman knows the human heart.

[Donna Koros Stramella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a gem of a short story collection. The stories were surprisingly, the language lovely, and the characters vivid and relatable. Highly recommend!