The Impressionists

The Private Confessions of Perfect Strangers

A collection of six poignant, sometimes heart-wrenching, sometimes heart-warming and frequently witty first person short stories from award-winning author Andrew Biss

They say never judge a book by its cover but it's something many of us are apt to do at some point or another. Judging a person by their appearance is equally unwise, as none of us can know the personal turmoil behind the public façade of a perfect stranger. But what if we could...

Each of these stories juxtaposes the public face with the private, conflicted person behind it.

Big Girl: An overweight young woman named Peggy appraises her recently purchased self-help book, "The Bigger the Better."

The Replica: An abused wife reflects on her past and deconstructs the emergence of the replica that now haunts her present.

A Small Act of Vandalism: Malcolm, a gentle, middle-aged soul with a troubled mind, keeps his mother's remains sealed in a small porcelain box. What he keeps hidden among his memories, however, isn't so easily contained.

One Night Only: Denny, a prisoner on death row in an Alabama State Penitentiary, spends his final moments reviewing his career as a serial killer in an interview with himself.

Organ Failure: A woman in the viewing room of a funeral home addresses the body of her lover in the coffin before her.

WYWH: Eileen, a reclusive, middle-aged divorcee, still haunted by the loss of her son, discovers a new life in the virtual world.