O careless love

"Susan Dodd explores the multifarious and otherworldly nature of love in a new collection of short stories. "Settings ranging from a desolate island in winter to a broken-down city bus at rush hour are the locales for love's unlikely - and often inconvenient - landings in these ten diverse and uncommon stories. An eccentric endodontist repairs a patient's freshly broken heart while performing a root canal. A Haitian woman charms snakes into keeping her company in an urban cave as she safeguards her grandchildren's sleep. A shy illustrator subsists though a long Vermont winter on occasional glimpses of a man in a blue pickup truck. "Whether Dodd's characters are on the lookout or on the lam, love is what maps their migrations.