It’s February 1862, and the Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved 11-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. The boy finds himself in a strange purgatory where ghosts mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel and enact bizarre acts of penance. Within this transitional state --- called, in the Tibetan tradition, the bardo --- a monumental struggle erupts over young Willie’s soul.

The 10 stories in George Saunders’s latest collection demonstrate why he is considered a modern master of short fiction. From “Victory Lap,” the tale of an attempted abduction, to “The Semplica Girl Diaries,” in which families employ Asian women as live garden ornaments, Saunders’s gift for inventive plots and vivid detail, and his ability to home in on moments that quickly define character, have never been used to more stunning effect. Believe the hype.