This Way To Departures

What happens when we leave the places we're from? What do we lose, and who do we become, and what parts of our pasts are unshakeable? Linda Mannheim's second short story collection tells the stories of twelve people who have relocated - both voluntarily and involuntarily. Butterfly McQueen, one of the stars of Gone With the Wind, becomes a tour guide back in Georgia when she discovers the only film roles open to her involve playing maids. Mia, a museum curator, attends a wrongful death trial after her childhood friend's lawyer insists that having a middle-class friend in the courtroom will curry favour with the jury. Laura, a Nuyorican reporter working in 1980s Miami, is enamoured by a Salvadoran asylum seeker who's asked for her help; but is he who he says he is? THIS WAY TO DEPARTURES is a deeply affecting portrait of American society and the constant search for a place to call 'home'.