In each of Bell’s ten stories, characters struggle through trying times, captives of their own bad decisions or plain bad luck. In “Black and Tan,” a farmer’s fortitude after the tragic death of his family leads him to become a savior of delinquent boys. The title story charts a London student’s crumbling psyche. And in “Petit Cachou” hustlers and panhandlers in the French Riviera experience the darker side of life on a seemingly perfect stretch of the Mediterranean coastline. While depicting characters both sympathetic and hopeless, Bell’s remarkable insight makes for a vivid rendering of civilization’s many frayed edges.

 

Barking Man is the author’s second collection of stories, and presents Bell’s writing at its most unforgettable.