The Immigrant Train — (1996)

& Other Stories

By Natalie L. M. Petesch

“This is gorgeous writing—intense, deeply felt, convincing. Taken one at a time, these stories succeed. Taken together, they sparkle.”

Steve Yarbrough

“Natalie Petesch is a wonder of a writer. There is absolutely no one else like her. She is courageous, almost to the point of being fierce. And unbearably honest. And wise. And full of tears. I salute her fine work.”

Gerald Stern

In this short story collection, acclaimed author Natalie Petesch reaffirms for us our enduring debt to millions of immigrants who helped build America. Inspired by her own parents’ journey at the turn of the century, Petesch spins these tales of immigration in a spare and lyrical prose that assures our involvement: a political fugitive threatened with imprisonment reaches a long-sought mining town in Minnesota; as Polish immigrant Witold Dobrynski realizes his dream of owning a farm in Texas, a spiritual crisis changes his life; fourteen-year-old Stasio Wolski quickly becomes a man in the underworld of a big city but is haunted by the loss of his Polish identity: a beekeeping bachelor's pre-occupation with the social life of the hive is seamlessly interwoven with the colorful tapestry of early twentieth-century Pittsburgh.

This visionary collection sustains Petesch’s well-established reputation as one of the country’s finest writers.