This Will Be Difficult to Explain, By Johanna Skibsrud

The author of two books of poetry, Skibsrud hit the bestseller lists in her native Canada with her debut novel The Sentimentalists – an account of a Vietnam veteran's relationship with his daughter.

In this collection of stories, family difficulties again surface with memorable consequences.

In the title story, a drunk father takes his children for a car ride and runs over a dog; in "French Lessons", a young American in Paris listens while an elderly widow recounts the details of her son's suicide.

Funny, thoughtful and oblique, Skibsrud's stories explode with sudden meaning.