The Complexities of Intimacy

is] one of our great national literary treasures, a daring writer who reminds us in every line that the true business of fiction is intelligence and presence and compassion. This book is a delight, a challenge, and a celebration of the human mind and heart.” —Gilbert Sorrentino “The Complexities of Intimacy richly confirms Mary Caponegro’s reputation as one of our most perceptive explorers of the mysterious, often perilous universe of family. With language as intricate as the terrains of love and fear, desire and dread these connected stories evoke, Caponegro continues to reinvent the Gothic as a personal narrative of the fragility of being flesh and blood.” —Bradford Morrow “If she were a metal, she would be quicksilver. Her constellation: Berenice’s Hair. Were she a flower, she would be lethal; A scholar? Cryptographer. And creature? The serpent of the garden of Hesperides. And if Mary Caponegro were a practice, That practice would be alchemy.” —Rikki Ducornet