From James Leo Herlihy (author of Midnight Cowboy) comes a series of
grim yet insightful short stories in his first collection, The Sleep of
Baby Filbertson. Both an examination of the darker themes of alienation
and isolation and an elevation of the oddities and quirks that make up
human nature, Herlihy's seven tales tackle the anxieties of fragile
people and get to the heart of a world inhabited by perennial outsiders.
Agoraphobic Daisy Filbertson and her teenage son, Rudy, both addicted to
sleeping pills, find themselves frantically running from city to city
fueled by Daisy's manic insistence. A lonely mother tries to start her
life over and find a new father for her daughter on an Army base. An
immigrant from Uruguay writes letters to his Mamacita while he tries to
find himself in the US. And a staunch Baptist has her world challenged
when she meets a handsome artist.