Anne Leigh Parrish

Our Love Could Light the World

Stories by Anne Leigh Parrish | Unsolicited Press Oct. 2024

In Our Love Could Light The World, the Dugans are a scrappy, dysfunctional family living in upstate New York, doing their best to get by. But when the mother unexpectedly walks out, she leaves behind five unruly kids and an alcoholic, unemployed husband. In these twelve compelling stories, discover how the Dugan clan navigates their new reality, learning to survive and even thrive.

Finalist in short story category
–2014 Next Generation Indie Book Awards

Finalist in short story category
–2013 Best Books Awards

Finalist in literary fiction Category
–2013 Best Books Awards

Finalist in short story category
–2013 International Book Awards

Praise for Our Love Could Light the World

Parrish weaves linked, darkly humorous tales of aging, death, love and alcoholism using the gothic tropes of Southern literary fiction. A successful collage of linked stories set in a rich, dysfunctional world.Kirkus Reviews

Parrish is in possession of such precise prose, devilish wit, and big-hearted compassion that I couldn’t help but be drawn into the hijinks and mishaps of the Dugan family. I found myself one moment laughing out loud, and the next, overcome with emotion. I’d compare these linked stories to those of George Saunders, Elizabeth Strout, or perhaps even Flannery O’Connor, if Parrish’s voice weren’t so clearly and wonderfully her own. —Ross McMeekin, Editor, Spartan

Parrish knows the subtle movements of families in turmoil and the flailing attempts at love and peace. She takes you inside the homes of your neighbors, or of people like them, and she captures in fine detail their private, crippling agonies and their tiny, saving grace notes. Reading Our Love Could Light the World is like holding up a mirror—you see yourself, and then, if you look closely, you also see things you might otherwise have missed. —Craig Lancaster, author of 600 Hours of Edward