On Sale November 2022
Order From:
IndieBound | Bookshop | Amazon
Within the stories that comprise You Have Reached Your Destination, award-winning author Louise Marburg captures turning points in the lives of twelve disparate women. Marburg’s crisp, clear-eyed prose, infused with dark humor, reveals the inevitable collapse of pretension beneath the struggles of loneliness, death, and the all too human need to be seen. From a pre-teen attempting to understand her father’s suicide to a ninety-year-old caught in shadows of past marital abuse, each of these women is made to confront the reality that change is the only certainty. This collection, Marburg’s finest yet, invites us to face ourselves and our own life journeys with sympathy, humor, and courage.
Praise & Reviews
“Marburg’s characters find themselves in lives they don’t quite recognize, searching for signposts that can lead them forward or tell them who they are… These characters are as quirky as they are full of heart. Even in the thralls of defeat, these stories traffic in hope.”
–Brenda Peynado, The New York Times
“Delightfully jaded wisdom buoys Louise Marburg’s You Have Reached Your Destination. Marburg captures how the wounds of childhood linger — yet she allows moments of grace. It is gratifying to read fiction that tackles complex emotions. In Marburg’s hands, even the seemingly whimsical carries the weight of truth.”
–Daphne Kalotay, The Washington Post
“The best short stories soar because of their author’s wisdom, their knowledge of human nature, their ability to telegraph that knowledge in this odd, compressed form. Louise Marburg has that rare wisdom; her fiction absolutely hums with it, and yes, soars. This book is enlightening, challenging, and moving. I am so glad it is out in the world.”
-Robin Black, author of Life Drawing and If I Loved You, I Would Tell You This
“In her new collection, You Have Reached Your Destination, Louise Marburg has assembled a cast of badly behaved women I couldn’t help but adore. Hilarious, irreverent, and tender hearted, her characters inspire empathy for them and compassion for ourselves. Warning: May cause addiction to Marburg’s writing and sudden cravings for her other collections.”
-R.L. Maizes, author of Other People’s Pets, winner of the Colorado Book Award, and We Love Anderson Cooper.
“In Marburg’s world, relationships are always subject to radical change, and her characters’ destinations are unexpected, remarkable, and beautifully memorable.”
-Erin McGraw, author of Joy and 52 Other Very Short Stories