Sleeping in Velvet

Wow, where has this author been all my life? Turns out she lives in my neighborhood, Oakland, so perhaps I'll run into her at Peet's coffee near the Claremont some day.I don't usually read short stories, but these aren't exactly short stories. Rather, they are mood pieces, exquisite slices of life captured with lovely language. Most of them made me stop at the end, look out the window, and sigh with a smile before getting up to refill my coffee cup. The title story, The White Coat, is about an ermine fur coat once used to hide Jews fleeing from the Nazis; when Frank's character tries on the coat, she disappears for a time, lending a slightly slippery quality to the story. She uses this somewhat otherworldly aspect in some of her other stories, too, which only heightens their lyrical and magical qualities. Absolutely lovely.