From the celebrated author of Who I Was Supposed to Be , Susan Perabo’s collection of twelve “ingenious and lovable stories [that] crack open the world” ( Kirkus Reviews , starred review) and illuminate the everyday truths of people facing challenging situations…often of their own making. In Why They Run the Way They Do , critically acclaimed author Susan Perabo illustrates the triumphs and tragedies of daily life. Perfectly distilled into moments of sharp humor and poignancy, this collection features ordinary people in sometimes extraordinary circumstances. Two young students try their hand at blackmail upon learning an illicit secret; a woman grapples with feelings of betrayal after discovering her spinster sister’s pregnancy test; the ghost of a couple’s past comes back to haunt them in the form of their toddler’s stuffed toy. Weaving the banal and bizarre together, “Perabo’s clear, wry sentences meld a prose style that’s reminiscent of Raymond Carver’s with a sensibility that’s informed by People ” ( The New York Times ). Here, this “literary talent” ( The Boston Globe ) captures the human condition through struggles that are quiet and grand; dark and provocative. Brilliantly crafted, Why They Run the Way They Do is ultimately an homage to the philosophy that life without humor is no life at all. "Darkly beautiful stories about love and loss and every gradation between. Each one is suffused with astonishing wit and tenderness. Well worth the wait!" --Jenny Offill, "New York Times "bestselling author of "Dept. of Speculation" "There's only one way to read Susan Perabo, and that's breathlessly. Each story in "Who I Was Supposed to Be" crackles with narrative electricity, and every one made me want to stand and cheer." --Richard Russo, author of "Empire Falls" and "Elsewhere" Praise for "The Broken Places" "Perabo is off to a great start...."The Broken Places" is a successful exploration of a family's gradual unraveling and--perhaps more importantly--of the more basic question of what it means to be afraid. And it is when fear hovers at the edges that we find some of Perabo's most compelling writing." --Jennie A. Camp, "Denver Rocky Mountain News" "Having demonstrated in "Who I Was Supposed to Be--"her muscular debut collection of short stories--that she can write in voices male and female, young and old, Susan Perabo distributes her loyalties equally in "The Broken Places."...Perabo, whose stories radiate compassionate curiosity about how people get along, is particularly attuned to the inner lives of young people." --Lisa Schwarzbaum, "Entertainment Weekly" "Proving herself a writer to watch, Perabo delivers a panoramic emotional drama in this stunning first novel." --Lee Ann Sandweiss, "St. Louis Dispatch" "A beautifully constructed family drama that approaches the best in literature...the story and character are so compelling that even a restless reader will sit pinned to the armchair all afternoon." --Diane Nelson Jones, "Pittsburgh Post-Gazette" ""The Broken Places "is an insightful contemporary page-turning work told with compassion and quiet power." --Myrna Lippman, "Ft. Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel" "Clear, assured prose...[Perabo is] a writer who trusts her story and respects her characters....It seems perfectly fitting that a quotation from Hemingway should start Perabo's novel, a novel that simply but powerfully explores the nature of manhood, fathers and sons, courage, and woundedness." --Mick Cochrane, "The Buffalo News" ""The Broken Places" explores the very human question?in surprising and original ways?of what it really means to be afraid." --Elizabeth Strout, author of "The Burgess Boys" and "Olive Kittredge" "Susan Perabo's powerful new novel perfectly captures the onset of an age when you know what you want and aren't afraid to ask, when you understand too much and learn just how little you can do about it, and when the prizes of rescue and fame can astonishingly reveal and further fracture the conflicted broken places of the heart. This is a daring and intensely authentic book." --Fred Leebron, author of "In the Middle of All This" Praise for "Who I Was Supposed to Be" ""Who I Was Supposed to Be" is a stunning introduction to a fresh new literary talent." "--The Boston Globe" "[Perabo's] keenly observed, insightful stories leave us appalled and hopeful and wonderfully dazzled." --Margaret Fichtner, "The Miami Herald" "Such truth-telling as to be found in "Who I Was Supposed to Be "is like the sound of the quiet tearing of the innocent worlds we compose for ourselves. Although rich with wonders, this is not performance, but artful, genuine, and essentially caring. It is whispered in your ear and is the words you've told on yourself. It is the harbor of lost souls, the short story as an act of consummate humanity." --Robert Olmstead, author of "The Coldest Night" and "Coal Black Horse" "In an age whose stories are desperately ho-h