Set firmly in a small village in the Austrian Alps, these 12 interlinking stories are almost ethnographic in their rich detail of small town life. The stories range from the turn-of-the-century to the present, accurately charting change in the remote region of Andelsbuch, Egg and Grossdorf. The author spent four years among the villages of the Bregenz forest collecting information on the local dialect. Winner of the Pen/Hemingway Award.  (ALP11, $13.95)