A masterly collection of new stories from Russell Banks, acclaimed author of The Sweet Hereafter and Rule of the Bone , which maps the complex terrain of the modern American family The New York Times lauds Russell Banks as "the most compassionate fiction writer working today" and hails him as a novelist who delivers "wrenching, panoramic visions of American moral life. Long celebrated for his unflinching, empathetic works that explore the unspoken but hard realities of contemporary culture, Banks now turns his keen intelligence and emotional acuity on perhaps his most complex subject yet: the shape of family in its many forms.