An unflinching look at the human body and the ways it defines, fails, and frees us

Building on themes introduced in her novel Girl in Shades, Allison Baggio explores the connection between the physical and spiritual worlds with In the Body, a collection of 12 short stories and the novella “As She Was.”

Baggio’s range of voice and breadth of vision are showcased in stories like “Spilt Milk,” where an ordinary fare leads an Indo-Canadian taxi driver, who is unhappy with his current circumstances, to marry his passenger’s unattractive sister. In “Possessed,” a man receives a heart transplant and begins to suspect that his new heart is still attached to its old owner.

The novella follows a teenage girl who, after a motorcycle accident, is left with a serious brain injury that dramatically alters her personality and body. The five people closest to her must reflect on who she was in order to come to terms with who she has become.

In the Body is a stunning examination of the clash between how we perceive our own bodies and how we are perceived by others.