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Peter J. Stavros is a writer in Louisville, Kentucky, and the author of two short story collections, Three in the Morning and You Don’t Smoke Anymore, winner of the Etchings Press 2020 Book Prize for a Chapbook of Prose, and (Mostly) True Tales From Birchmont Village, based upon his series of short stories that were first published in The Saturday Evening Post, as well as the novella, Tryouts, which follows one young man's quest to make his high school basketball team. More can be found at www.peterjstavros.com.
Reviewed by Courtnee Turner Hoyle for Readers' Favorite
(Mostly) True Tales of Birchmont Village begins with a fire. Peter J. Stavros describes the plight of the Johnsons, a family whose presence is missed when their house catches fire not once, but twice, on the same day. The family is discussed at length by neighbors who look for ways to help them after the life-altering event. Next, the Johnsons’ cat, Chubz, goes missing, and the neighborhood springs into action, chasing leads from the extra-sensory abilities of their own cats to a pile of sheared fur. One day, after a mid-day storm, the lights go out, and the community bands together, much in the same way as they did when they collectively searched for a Santa Claus when the “official” Birchmont Village Santa Claus took a spill from a golf cart. The book comes to a heart-warming conclusion as the reader learns how the Birchmont villagers choose to stay together, even though they are supposed to be apart.
Peter J. Stavros has humorously penned the attributes of a group of auspicious neighbors who were kind and compassionate, and no matter the problem, they were able to band together and take quick action to help one another. I loved the quirky characters, and I delighted in reading the days, minutes, and seconds young Billy Milner counted from his birthday. Some of the stories from the (Mostly) True Tales of Birchmont Village were published in The Saturday Evening Post, so it’s nice to see them printed together, where readers can see the interlocking characters.
