I will arise and go now, and go to Innisfree…

I shall have some peace there

     --W.B. Yeats

          A cheerleader touches a high school wrestler's face, running her finger along his two-day beard. Thus begins their covert affair, one so understated he can't be certain she's aware of it, from which he will date his sexual life. A cynical greeting card writer, who becomes America's best-selling poet, seeks redemption on tour. Enchanted by a woman at a party, a man at loose ends recalls Calla Dakos and six weeks that shook his life. A sandwich maker discovers a book of Jewish folklore, left by a customer in his shop, and is inspired by the legendary Rabbi Akiba, who was also a failure at 40. Upon hearing of his sister's terminal diagnosis, a private detective stages a comeback on the freestyle wrestling circuit.

            These three novellas and two stories portray people in crisis, searching for Innisfree.

Booklife:

“Eron’s incisive debut collection offers a deeply philosophical, yet still lighthearted, examination of the human condition. The characters populating these three novellas and two short stories may all walk different paths–among them, readers will meet a private eye, a greeting card writer, and a sandwich maker– but they each grapple with existential questions that transcend their differences as they confront the uncertainties of identity, authenticity, family, and romance with probing persistence. . . . While thought-provoking and deeply concerned with the limits of our perceptions and self-knowledge, the collection frequently offers welcome, unexpected moments of humor, especially in the often boisterous dialogue that’s often sprinkled with Yiddish. The muddled and sometimes painful self-reflection at the center of these stories, and their characters’ occasional hard-fought realizations, create a fascinating window into life’s big questions about who we are and how we should live.”

Foreword Clarion:

“A greeting card writer finds an unexpected fame that he doesn’t feel he deserves. Another man reminisces about a girl who kissed him while he was staying at a friend’s house twenty years before. And a deli owner compares his life to that of an ancient Jewish shepherd-turned-scholar. . . . There are five stories in the book, and each focuses on a moment when a woman (usually a love interest) made an impression on its hero—one that they never forgot, even when they thought they had moved on.”

BlueInk Review:

“Don Eron’s well-crafted, character-driven collection of three novellas and two stories draws readers into the daily lives of its protagonists, each unique, yet all struggling to find their place in the world. . . . Death becomes a part of life in these stories, and Eron artfully weaves such drama into his tales. His skillful descriptions; fast-paced, bantering dialogue; and characters’ amusing observations and insightful reflections . . . draw readers into their mindsets and move the action forward. With stories showcasing a range of subjects—whether family relationships, friendships, sexuality, or insecurity—the common theme of this enjoyable collection seems revealed in its aptly referenced W.B. Yeats title: Perhaps we’re all searching for an Innisfree.”

Kirkus Reviews:

"In the short story “Giselle’s Tears,” the finest in Eron’s brief collection of fiction, Bart, the narrator, is a high school wrestler. He is largely neglected by his two sisters: Rachel, the popular one blessed with both brains and beauty, and Giselle, not similarly endowed by genetic fortune but always ready to grab the spotlight with her penchant for emotional fireworks. While Bart is lost in the shuffle, he forges his own drama when a pretty cheerleader touches his face. . . . In a casually informal, confidential style, the author sensitively captures the significance of that transformative moment for Bart, one that would follow him years later. . . . The novella “Misguided Missiles,” the most comic of the pieces, chronicles the attempt by emotionally beleaguered private detective Bart Coldecker to find some meaning in his life by becoming a professional wrestler. . . . The tale is a genuinely funny one and impressively inventive. Eron’s assemblage of fiction is brimming with promise.”