title: A Stranger in This World: Stories
author:  Kevin Canty 
description: In the tradition of the works of Raymond Carver and Richard Ford, this fiction debut shines with verbal brilliance. Disturbing yet compellingly readable, the stories in this collection explore the gap between disappointment and hope, between life as it could be and life as it is.
zlib_text: A  
  Stranger’s  
  Wish
  
  
  GAYLE ROPER
  
  
  
  
  
  ![](images/00002.jpg)  
  HARVEST HOUSE PUBLISHERS  
  EUGENE, OREGON
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Verses marked KJV are taken from the King James Version of the Bible.
  
  
  Verses marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982
  by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
  
  
  Published in association with the Books & Such Literary Agency, 52 Mission
  Circle, Suite 122, PMB 170, Santa Rosa, CA 95409-5370,
  [www.booksandsuch.biz](http://www.booksandsuch.biz).
  
  
  Cover by Dugan Design Group, Bloomington, Minnesota
  
  
  Cover photos © Ekaterina Hashbarger _iStockphoto; Jorge Moro_ Fotolia
  
  
  Backcover author photo by Ken Rada Photography
  
  
  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are
  products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance
  to actual persons, living or dead, or to events or locales, is entirely
  coincidental.
  
  
  
  
  
  A STRANGER’S WISH
  
  
  Copyright © 1998 by Gayle Roper
  
  
  Publis