John Rolfe Gardiner’s new short story collection draws inspiration from life in NoVA. Read More
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Fiction writers can never truly retire, especially if they are still holding stories yet untold. Case in point: 88-year-old author John Rolfe Gardiner has added a new title to his portfolio of award-winning novels and short stories.
In North of Ordinary, a parcel of 10 stories bound together by subtle threads of human commonalities, longtime NoVA resident Gardiner packs his writing with casual mentions of towns and villages between Washington, DC, and the Blue Ridge. His characters, too, embody people we may have encountered during our comings and goings in the region, including two social misfits who forge an unlikely friendship on an Arlington cul-de-sac, suburban families with an annual tradition of vacationing together on the Outer Banks, and a Winchester tree trimming crew that struggles to relate to a college-age summer hire.
