"In Stories of Gabriel, Esther Alix's debut fiction, a stillborn child unravels the many hidden, layered truths that are tightly woven into one Bronx community. Alix is a master storyteller, who in six interwoven stories pulls those who choose to follow down the hallways, and into the kitchens, and up onto the terraces of a Bronx block where news travels fast and secrets die hard. In Gabriel we see how a sudden trauma in one family can unwrap the collective pain, and grief, and heartbreak-as well as the resilience, and love, and longing-we all carry as individuals, and as families, and as communities. Alix has painted a remarkable and moving portrait of an endangered American institution-a real neighborhood, with very real people, forced to face the truth about each other and themselves."