The nine stories in this collection are told by and about teenagers, mid-lifers, and elders. They are about settled lives and drastically disordered ones, working people, dying people. They are about people you have never met and others you see every day; sometimes, they are people you know very well, people you work and live with. You may find they are about you. Like all of us, the characters are finding their way forward in the face of loss. They are furious and funny, hurtful and helpful. Stumbling and blind, enlightening slowly, they are all going where they belong.
Occurring across the years from the 1960's to 2023, these are American stories about American people. They take us from the banks of an unnamed river to the deserts and mountains of the Southwest, through the streets of St. Louis to the steep forested hills of California's coastal mountains.
These are not plot-driven tales or learning experiences or stories with a moral, but visits into the inner experience of the characters. Humor lives in everyone. Tension arises and eases as it does in life, without pronounced conclusion. After you finish reading each one you are left pensive or smiling, querulous or saddened, often peaceful, always moved-and knowing that you have been taken where you belong.
