What It Might Feel Like to Hope

A short story collection by Dorene O’Brien

What It Might Feel Like to Hope, the second collection from award-winning author Dorene O’Brien, is a masterful and eclectic mix of stories that consider the infinitely powerful, and equally naïve and damning force that is human hope. A couple tries to come to terms with one another as they travel west in the uncomfortable twilight of their youth; a mortician and an idealistic novelist spar about the true nature of death; an aspiring author hopes to impress Tom Hanks with zombies; a tarot reader deals out the future of Detroit. Showcasing her diverse talents, O’Brien offers a panoply of characters and settings that dwell beyond the borders of certainty, in a place where all that has been left to them is an inkling of possibility upon which they must place all their hopes. These stories offer a variety of tones, forms, and themes in which O’Brien displays an amazing range and control of her craft, all while exploring the essential nature of humanity with nuance, empathy, and at times a touch of skepticism.

Read Dorene O’Brien’s interview on the Baoblog.

Independent Publisher Book Awards – Gold Medal Winner – Short Fiction

American Book Fest’s American Fiction Award – Finalist – Short Story

Praise for Dorene O’Brien

“Dorene O’Brien’s stories operate on a different plane and dimension of realism–flesh and blood yet dipped in a neon wash perhaps. At once a scientist of sensory details and a heartfelt observer of the intricacies of the human psyche, O’Brien’s prose possesses a particular cinema that will not just stay in your mind but your gut as well.”

Porochista KhakpourAuthor of "Sons and Other Flammable Objects," "The Last Illusion," and "Sick"

“What It Might Feel like to Hope makes the reader shudder with recognition of lives crossing and merging with one another. The final story of the collection closes the circle beautifully, making us feel that out of the most circumscribed conditions, hope can rise.”

Anca Vlasopolos Author of No Return Address: a Memoir of Displacement, The New Bedford Samurai, Cartographies of Scale (and Wing)

“O’Brien’s magical new collection of short fiction quickly transports readers beyond the bones of its structure—the deftly-crafted plots, striking characterizations and clever, lyrical prose—to places of genuine wonder.”

Laura Bernstein-Machlay Author of Travelers

“A wondrous journey that is at times laugh-out-loud humorous, at times heartbreaking, but always compelling and magnificent in its authenticity.”

Ksenia RychtyckaAuthor of Crossing The Border

Dorene O’Brien in the News

Dorene in the News:

Oakland Press – reviewed by Darcell Brown
North of Oxford – reviewed by Lauren Hulthen Thomas
What It Might Feel Like to Hope on Michigan Radio/NPR
Dorene O’Brien selected as this year’s Pfeiffer-Hemingway writer-in-residence
Linda K Sienkiewicz Writer’s Blog
Independent Publisher Book Awards announce Gold Medal in Short Story Fiction
American Fiction Awards Finalist in the Short Story Category
Featured on book blog Snowflake in a Blizzard
Interviewed on All Write in Sin City
Interviewed by author Kelly Fordon

Book Details

Title: What It Might Feel Like to Hope

Author: Dorene O’Brien

Publication Date: February 12, 2019

ISBN: 978-1-936097-21-0

Red Ochre Edition

$16.95

Dist. by Publishers Group West
www.pgw.com, 800-788-2123

Available at your favorite local bookstore or at Bookshop.org

What It Might Feel Like to Hope

A short story collection by Dorene O’Brien

Praise for Dorene O’Brien

Dorene O’Brien in the News

Book Details

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