Among these characters in the sixteen stories that make up Sedgwick County is Allison who, while on a search for her recently-deceased sister's runaway cat, unexpectedly finds herself in the presence of the woman she feels her former brother-in-law has unrightfully "replaced" her sister with. Bryan, a medical doctor, wonders if his volatile relationship with his alcoholic father is about to reach its breaking point. An Uber driver fantasizes about a better life when dropping off a man in an affluent neighborhood. Ben and Kristen attempt to mask an intimate, personal tragedy after friends unexpectedly pay them a visit. And in another story, an unnamed narrator contemplates his own mortality after spotting a doomsdayer's foreboding sign outside of a mechanic's shop while he waits on an oil change. The voices in Sedgwick County are an ensemble of gripping narratives that speak to the vast amount of swirling concerns present in the lives of everyday people. “Nicholas Claro is a master of literary minimalism. In the lives of his achingly relatable characters, a simple pause in speech can denote a chasm of emotional distance and a flit of the eyes can announce a heartbreaking accusation or confession. He ranks among my favorite living writers. Sedgwick County demonstrates why.”—M.C. Schmidt, author of Simple Songs for the End of the World and Tell Me Something Before I Show You “Nicholas Claro beautifully captures domestic quirks, quiet devastations, and subtle triumphs, exploring—always with a palpable empathy—the sometimes faint lines between love and disdain. Pets go missing, loved ones leave, and part-time parenthood breeds both profound love and petty resentment. Claro is a skilled minimalist who also manages to illustrate every crucial minor tic and twitch, elegantly balancing precise, pointed prose with intensely striking lyricism. These Kansas-bound stories are grounded in realism but, much like the middle of this vast and complex country, they bring us complicated, familiar characters thrust into bizarre, often unsettling situations. Sedgwick County is a stellar and unyielding second collection, further establishing Claro as one of today’s most astute and compassionate storytellers.”—Cassidy McCants, author of Notes on Drifting COVER ART BY WAYLON BACON
