Allan Gurganus says the three novellas that comprise his new book were written as modern fables or fairy tales. Local Souls (Liveright) strips away the artificial social conventions of small-town Southern life, to reveal the passionate private life of a beautiful couple with a taboo secret. Gurganus speaks candidly about his interest in the eros and extremity of fairy tales and Greek tragedies, and why he believes the novella is the perfect form to "trace a single obsession."