The Opium Lady

JoAnne Soper-Cook is such a spell-binding storyteller that she can lead her willing captives almost anywhere. In her new story collection, The Opium Lady, she draws her readers into the far corners of human yearning.

The Opium Lady resembles a photo album of an extensive family, with a picture at the beginning of each story. The snapshots were taken between perhaps 1910 and 1955, and most of the events in the stories are contemporary with the snapshots, but a curious atmosphere of the prese...