{"product_id":"if-you-think-your-heart-suzanne-mcconnell-9781972482094","title":"If You Think Your Heart Can Take It","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"Exquisite stories of love and lust and the drive, above all, to connect. Suzanne McConnell is a master of precision. Her prose shines on the page, carrying the reader effortlessly into her characters' worlds. A luminous collection that gloriously pushes the boundaries of the form.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e--Joan Leegant, author of \u003cem\u003eDisplaced Persons, \u003c\/em\u003e winner of the New American Press Fiction Prize\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eThese stories trace lives caught in transition and choice. Attentive to the forces that shape us-desire, regret, loyalty, hope- Suzanne McConnell pulls readers into moments of tension that make it impossible to turn away.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e--Danielle Ofri, editor of \u003cem\u003eBellevue Literary Review\u003c\/em\u003e, author of \u003cem\u003eWhat Doctors Feel: How Emotions Affect the Practice of Medicine\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003e \u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"Suzanne McConnell writes about human entanglements with an unsparing eye and the way they actually happen-messily--and with a truth you feel in your gut. Her gaze is fearless. Her writing is brilliant.\" \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e--Dan Pope, author of \u003cem\u003eHousebreaking\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\"The variety in Suzanne McConnell's stories is stunning. However colorful or exotic the setting, McConnell brings us to the abyss-of insanity, of unspeakable loss, or of an actual cliff over the Pacific Ocean. McConnell walks us along a tightrope, but she is effortlessly sure-footed-and seriously entertaining.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e-Meredith Sue Willis, Author of \u003cem\u003eOradell at Sea\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eIn the Mountains of America\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eWhen it comes to the daily assault of slings and arrows, Suzanne McConnell doesn't miss a thing. As one-a painter-puts it: \"I paint fog. I am not interested in fog per se. What interests me is shape, shade, the distinct line between things and the lack of it.\" Don't miss reading these stories. Each is an alchemist's stone transforming the ordinariness of everyday life into literary truth and artistry. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e-Pamela Ryder, Author of \u003cem\u003eDaybreak Birdsong Always Wakes Him: The Lives of Billy the Kid\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eSuzanne McConnell's \u003c\/strong\u003eaward-winning\u003cstrong\u003e \u003c\/strong\u003estories have appeared in many literary magazines and twice been nominated for the Pushcart Prize. She studied with Kurt Vonnegut at the Iowa Writer's Workshop where she received her MFA, and has published profiles of him, lectured on his work, and her book on his advice on writing, \u003cem\u003ePity the Reader: on Writing with Style \u003c\/em\u003eby Kurt Vonnegut and Suzanne McConnell, has been translated into five languages. She taught writing at Hunter College for thirty years and served as a Fiction Editor of the \u003cem\u003eBellevue Literary Review \u003c\/em\u003efor twenty. She lives in Manhattan and Wellfleet, MA, with her husband Gary Kuehn, a visual artist. www.suzannemcconnell.com\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Suzanne McConnell\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1972482092\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781972482094\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Serving House Books\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 06\/26\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 228\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.51lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 8.00h x 5.00w x 0.52d","brand":"Suzanne McConnell","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48853017788671,"sku":"9781972482094","price":15.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/if-you-think-your-heart-suzanne-mcconnell-9781972482094","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}