The Passion of Jazz and Other Short Stories

This collection of short stories by Nicholas Bridgman delves into finding beauty and love in unexpected places, including when young classical musicians develop a passion for jazz and for each other, vacations to the Grand Canyon and Ireland go horribly wrong, a grandfather sends his grandson a gift from beyond the grave, and a man with schizophrenia finds himself incarcerated.This collection of short stories by Nicholas Bridgman delves into finding beauty and love in unexpected places. It begins by following two young classical music proteges who discover their passion for jazz and for each other at a summer music academy, and who meet fifteen years later and have to face the potential relationship they lost. In "No One There to Listen," a family vacation to the Grand Canyon goes horribly wrong, with the family members unable to express their love for each other until it is too late. In "Grandfather's Gift," a man has to lose everything to discover the love behind a gift his grandfather sent him from beyond the grave. In "Lost in the Woods," two American study abroad students in England have a harrowing time lost in a wood on their way home from Dublin, creating an unlikely bond between them. Finally, in "Sleep," a man with schizophrenia traverses the forensic mental health system and finds that sleeping his time away serves as a strangely beautiful coping skill.