Finalists for the 1992-1993 Los Angeles Times Book Prizes : FICTION

THE BURNING GLASS Stories by Helen Norris (Louisiana State University Press). Small moments are illuminated in this varied collection of ironically life-affirming stories, which often share the theme of women forever altered by chance encounters. “Inside the Silence,” for instance, tells of a woman’s visit to a Polish concentration camp that is so bleakly harrowing she is stunned into the paradoxical realization that she must risk loving again--and this time fully.

The Los Angeles Times Book Prize finalists and winners are selected in each category by an independent panel of judges. Winners will be announced in the Book Review issue of October 31.