A creative slice of the real world

The subjects of the essays in True Stories, Well Told range from the cultivation of compassion, to the disappearing habitat for monarch butterflies, to the dreams of the deaf residents of the tiny island of Providencia. A doctor describes a missed judgment call that results in a patient’s death; a father describes in excruciating detail the last minutes of his son’s life before he drowned. Overall, the collection offers a fine introduction to the genre of creative nonfiction.