The recognition of failure and success is the theme of these eight short stories and the title novella from three-time National Book Award finalist Hortense Calisher Extreme Magic is Hortense Calisher's third collection of shorter works, after In the Absence of Angels (1951) and Tale for the Mirror (1962). Follow a drifting husband as he returns home and finds middle age in "A Christmas Carillon." Listen with a daughter as she overhears a painful argument between her parents in "The Gulf Between." Travel with a broken man as he heals after a tragic loss in "Extreme Magic." Once again, Calisher captivates with her expressionistic prose and intricate characters.