This Time Might Be Different

“Ford lays bare the struggles of her Mainers with unflinching clarity and beauty and a flashing dark humor . . . original, compelling stories.” —Kate Christensen, PEN-Faulkner award-winning author

This Time Might Be Different by award-winning writer Elaine Ford is a collection of stories in which deftly drawn characters contemplate difficult choices: a young girl might have coffee with a stranger; a guy might decide to rob the local laundromat; or a widow might get in the car and just keep driving.

Underneath the commonplace―running into an old lover, a longstanding feud, an unspoken divorce―readers will find a trace of dark humor, a sinister underpinning, or a profound irony.

Of Ford’s rural-Maine-set novel Monkey Bay, The New York Times said: “In its unsparing but sympathetic treatment of its characters and locale, Elaine Ford’s book is reminiscent of Andrew Wyeth’s stark paintings, which use the terrain of northern New England to explore a much larger emotional landscape.”

“The beating heart of these stories pits the human need to connect against the fierce independence that is the hallmark of her adopted home state. The book has a wintery feel: freezing winds off the bay, hearts beating under worn sweaters, toes stiffening in wet boots. In their mood and compassion, they bring Andre Dubus Sr.’s short stories to mind, and the stories hold shimmering moments of grace and vulnerability, a welcome final collection from a singular voice.” —The Boston Globe

“The stories contain hallmarks of her writing: lean, unpretentious, funny, evocative of place and populated with people who live complicated lives and who wish to improve them, against hope.” —Maine Sunday Telegram