Marie-Helene Bertino Books in Order

In these stories, bereaved professors, disillusioned writers, and troubled families encounter surreal disruptions to ordinary life. A convent offers refuge, Bob Dylan visits Thanksgiving dinner, and familiar ideas about love, home, and belonging become uncertain.

A nine-year-old aspiring singer, her recently divorced teacher, and a struggling jazz-club owner cross paths in wintry Philadelphia. Over one eventful day and night, each seeks a new beginning through music, love, or saving a cherished place.

Days before her wedding, a woman encounters her dead grandmother in the form of a parakeet. Warned against marriage and told to find her brother, she begins a surreal journey through buried memories and fractured relationships.

Born in Philadelphia as Voyager leaves Earth, Adina Giorno is also an extraterrestrial visitor sent to observe humanity. Her life with an earthly mother becomes an exploration of human connection through the perspective of an outsider.

Twelve stories explore the strange forms in which death and loss enter ordinary lives. Ghost girls, vampires, absent fathers, and unexpected objects unsettle familiar worlds, blending humour with reflections on attention, memory, and human connection.