Hearts in Atlantis is a 1999 collection of short stories by Stephen King. It was the 42nd book published by Stephen King, and his sixth collection of short stories. The stories are set in Vietnam War-era United States.
Brief Synopsis[]
- Low Men in Yellow Coats
- Ted Brautigan arives in Harwich, Connecticut while on the run from the low men. He befriends a boy named Bobby Garfield and his two friends, John "Sully" Sullivan and Carol Gerber. Bobby sees the lost pet posters that he is supposed to tell Ted about, but doesn't because he doesn't want to lose Ted. Bobby's mom comes to believe that Ted is a child molester and turns Ted over to the low men. Ted is taken by the low men to act as a Breaker.
- Hearts in Atlantis
- A bunch of college students in Maine become addicted to the game of Hearts. Their grades drop and the students are in danger of failing out and being drafted. Carol and Peter Riley join the peace movement. Carol leaves school to join the movement full-time and Riley barely manages to pass despite continuing to play Hearts.
- Blind Willie
- Willie Shearman performs penance for the things he did in Vietnam and to Carol Gerber. He goes blind everyday and begs for money.
- Why We're in Vietnam
- Sully attends a funeral of a fellow soldier and reflects on the events that happened in Vietnam. Sully dies of a heart attack.
- Heavenly Shades of Night are Falling
- Bobby returns to Harwich for Sully's funeral. He finds Carol and a baseball glove sent to him by Ted.
Audiobook[]
The audiobook version of the Hearts In Atlantis collection is read by both William Hurt and Stephen King. Hurt reads Low Men in Yellow Coats, Why We're in Vietnam, and Heavenly Shades of Night are Falling, and King reads Hearts in Atlantis and Blind Willie. William Hurt played the part of Jason Renshaw in the adaptation of the short story Battleground (from the Night Shift collection) in the television series Nightmares & Dreamscapes: From the Stories of Stephen King.