Alluring and sensitive spinner of magic out of short story

Curtis Sittenfeld, whose precious novel American Wife was a bestseller, but in her latest collection of short fiction she overturns assumptions about class, relationships and gender roles in a nation that is divided and creates characters that make a permanent mark in readers’ minds. In “The Prairie wife”, an Instagram star and portrays herself as the ultimate country wife, but secretly a lesbian, and her girlfriend a suburban mother of two fantasizes to expose her friend’s wholesome empire, which may or may not be built on a lie. In “The World Has Many Butterflies”, married acquaintances play a strangely intimate game with devastating consequences. In “A Regular Couple,” a high-powered lawyer honeymooning with her husband is caught off guard by the appearance of the girl who tormented her in high school.

In “Volunteer Are Shining Stars,” a young volunteer at a shelter for mothers and children in Washington D.C., develops a hatred for a new, bubbly volunteer.

In “ Off the Record,” a small-time interviewer in the home of an up-coming starlet, with strict instructions to leave her appointment with explicit details on the starlet’s recent breakup.

IN “Bad Latch,” a mother feels judged by a woman in her maternity yoga group.

Sittenfeld focuses on questionable decisions, missed connections and extraordinary coincidences that revolves around life.

You Think It, I’ll Say It by Curtis Sittenfeld, Double Day £16.99, 640 pages.