Stella Maris (anglicky) McCarthy Cormac (2019)

This collection by Michael Carroll explores Key West, a bohemian oasis and gathering place for gay men and the women who love them, through stories that move among its bars, guesthouses, and distinctive inhabitants. A memorial for a drag queen at a vicars Victorian home leads to uneasy encounters, while two Southern sisters on a cruise face alcoholism, estrangement, and deadly weather. Newly divorced gay men lick their wounds in the islands lingering social twilight, and at an all-male, clothing-optional resort, men of all ages cross paths, enjoy themselves, and surprise one another with their views and preconceptions. The book reflects on illness and death, the past and its prisoners, AIDS, and the realization of mortality among both young and older men. It is also about lifes unpredictability, survival, new beginnings, and final recognitions. As John Freeman describes Carroll, he is one of the best social observers in American fiction, while Padgett Powell calls his world strange, entertaining, and seemingly true.