In this collection of short stories, Joy Williams again demonstrates the brilliant precision of her writing, which is at once mordant and heartbreaking. An example is her description of a man and the baby he has been forced to care for due to his daughter's carelessness: "He comes back to the table and gives her a little more milk, a half jar of strained chicken and a few spoonfuls of dessert...The baby enjoys all equally. She is good. She eats rapidly and neatly. Sometimes she grasps the spoon, turns it around and thrusts the wrong end into her mouth. Of course there is nothing that cannot be done incorrectly." I heartily recommend anything written by Joy Williams. She should be better known than she is. She is an American original.