Born on a train

"Born On a Train is the fulmination of John McManus's growing talent - stories about the young and old, compromised by circumstance and curiosity, and undergoing startling transformations. In "Eastbound," a car driven by two elderly sisters breaks down on an elevated highway; beneath them lies the lost country of the South, overrun with concrete and shopping centers but still possessing the specters of the past. In "Brood," a plucky young heroine moves with her mother into the home of the mother's on-line boyfriend; she will use the Audubon Guide to Birds, and her own wits, to survive the…