(PR product @librofm) I finished listening the Danielle Evans’ short story collection and novella, The Office of Historical Corrections, on Sunday and it was a solid collection! I’m glad the novella was last because for me it blew the short stories out of the water, but the stories are great tasters for Evans’ style and themes!

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It was my first time listening to a collection of short stories and it was interesting. I liked how they chose to use different narrators for each story, that helped keep all the different characters in their stories! But I think I do prefer reading collections in print.

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I thought the first story was forgettable, but then the others all packed a punch! My favourites were Why Won’t Women Just Say What They Want, an interconnected tale of forgiveness and the arrogance of men presuming they can just take it, and Anything Could Disappear, where a young woman finds herself in possession of a baby boy after a bus ride.

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But the titular novella was the real star of this collection for me! Its premise is a woman, Cassie, working for a fictional government bureau which corrects historical inaccuracies in public places. Cassie’s job leads her to investigate the apparent murder of a Black man in a small town in Wisconsin, which unravels a whole host of buried family secrets. Evans explores the harm caused by white folk who won’t own up to the truth, who shirk uncomfortable discussions because they want to avoid the confrontation.