Rift Zone

Some decisions can't be undone. Some silences do more damage than words. And some ordinary lives, quietly breaking apart, contain more courage than anyone around them will ever know.

In these thirteen stories, Sarah P. Blanchard takes readers into the interior lives of everyday people navigating hardship, love, betrayal, and the fragile hope that something better is still possible. Set against the landscapes of rural New England, the Carolina mountains, and the Hawaiian coast, Rift Zone moves between darkness and unexpected humor with the sure-footed control of a writer who trusts her characters — and her readers — completely.

A mother refuses to see what she cannot bear to know. A bus driver does something small that changes everything. A family holds itself together with silence and love in nearly equal measure. Story by story, Blanchard maps the fault lines where ordinary lives shift and crack — and sometimes, remarkably, hold.

Rift Zone will appeal to readers of Elizabeth Strout and Ron Rash — writers who find the universal in the deeply particular, and who believe that the quietest stories are often the most devastating.

"Sarah Blanchard is a masterful storyteller...She transports readers into the minds of her characters, compelling us to read their thoughts and feel their deepest emotions." — Lorraine Cobcroft, Reedsy

"A controlled, haunting tale...a damning look at the ways that people refuse to see what they don't want to see." — Kirkus Reviews on "Lizzy Baby"

"A remarkable story and a beautifully written piece. The author's facility with realistic detail and emotional impact is outstanding." — ARIA Anthology Jury on "Not a Burden"

Sarah P. Blanchard is an award-winning novelist, short story writer, and poet. Rift Zone is published by Eagle Ridge Press.