Tauvernier Street

In Jay Atkinson¿s riveting new story collection, Tauvernier Street, the writer that Men¿s Health magazine called ¿the bard of New England toughness¿ uses a variety of narrative voices, characters and styles to express a single, central truth: you are where you came from. In these stories, some of which were written in ¿Technicolor¿ and others in black and white, a young boy learns to cherish the solid, unremarkable presence of his own father when he gets to know the charismatic dad next door; an ex-Marine finds the strength to deal with his wayward young bride in the pages of an ancient book; and a young gangbanger with a keen sense of history seeks protection from a tough hombre named Jesus. Among the stories, ¿Jailbird¿ won Boston Magazine¿s fiction prize. ¿The Tex Cameron Show,¿ which appeared in Shenandoah, was a finalist for their best story of the year, and ¿The Tigers in Argentina,¿ from MacGuffin, was nominated for the Pushcart Prize.