LAKETOWN

DiPego’s story collection looks at love, loss, and the search for the meaning of life in a small Illinois town.

In the fictional town of Indian Lake, Illinois, the author’s experiences of growing up by the northern lakes are given fictional life in four short stories—three set in the 1950s and one in 1989. In “The Man With Three Fists,” farmer Hank Wenslow prays for the arrival of rain while grieving his infant son’s death and loss of connection with his wife, Sandra. A mysterious stranger offers to help, “calling on wisdom ancient and eternal,” which leaves Wenslow obsessed with a goddess he does not understand. “Lake Town Dead” expands upon the theme of grief, following the search for peace by three deceased individuals who are trapped as ghosts, watching their families mourn. DiPego’s stories are imbued with a sense of magical realism, with his narratives embracing themes of fairy tales and folklore; they are a lyrical pleasure to read as are the author’s forays into the mystical while presenting what feel like very three-dimensional, real characters. “The Painter Loon,” the third story, also delves into the magical as sign painter F. Van Loon finds himself haunted by the presence of Myrna Gresha, a beautiful, ghostly woman at his home as he settles into the town of Indian Lake. The final story, “Reunion,” deals most overtly with the search for life’s meaning and second-guessing choices made. In this tale, Fred Carli returns to his hometown of Indian Lake for a high school reunion. Though he left two years after he graduated high school, what he finds when he returns is himself, somehow living a parallel life, as if he had stayed. Though the magical elements are initially jarring, this is a coherent collection of stories that settles into a rhythm as compelling as it is unexpected.

A poetic quartet of stories for readers with a taste for folklore and mystery.