[Close Range]

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Annie Proulx first gained worldwide attention with the Pulitzer-Prize winning, The Shipping News, where readers unearthed beauty in the desolate landscape of Newfoundland. Gone is that claustrophobic society; in her latest, Close Range she changes focus: Welcome to the wide-open spaces of God's country--Wyoming. The landscape that dots this collection of eleven stories is unforgiving. The author deftly uses the influence of the elements taking its toll on the characters' psyche. Although their needs, wants and desires are universal, the unyielding and harsh environment forms their character. William Matthews' watercolours interspersed throughout these exquisite, gut wrenching, dynamic …