This col­lec­tion of short sto­ries fol­lows a hand­ful of char­ac­ters as their lives cross paths in Birm­ing­ham, Alabama, a city known for its his­tory of civil rights strug­gles, its iron ore min­ing and for being home to an inter­sec­tion fondly known as “The Heav­i­est Cor­ner on Earth.”

Sto­ries include “Per­fect Enough,” which fol­lows Ebony, an African-American teen des­per­ate to win a beauty pageant in which she’s the only black con­tes­tant, “Hold On,” the story of ware­house worker Terry, who yearns to keep his fam­ily together in the face of infi­delity and eco­nomic depres­sion, and “The Last Parade,” a piece that fol­lows an elderly woman’s slow decline into dementia.

The Heav­i­est Cor­ner on Earth on Goodreads: 

Want to read a sam­ple story for the col­lec­tion? Down­load the FREE PDF of “Per­fect Enough.”