Two sisters meet for the first time after their father has killed their sister and himself; a man dying of cancer rescues a small boy from a closed refrigerator; an alcoholic, long divorced, shows up at his daughter’s wedding; a man who long ago abused his daughter realizes at last the full impact of what he has done.

These are among the situations described in Absent Without Leave, and they hit with a force that will shake you, disturb you, and teach you the truths you do not already know. The tales are clear-eyed but deeply moving; the characters spring three dimensional and alive from her pages; the stories are dangerous and fearless and thus not sentimental. We are confronting life here, made vivid by art.

Jessica Treadway’s stories have appeared in the Atlantic and in the Hudson Review. She lives in Boston.