Thirty-six stories - eight appearing in a book for the first time and a generous selection from her earlier collections - give us Ann Beattie at stunning mid-career.

Emotionally complex, edgy, and funny, the stories encompass a huge range of tone and feeling. The wife of a couple who have lost a child comforts her husband with an amazing act of tenderness. A man who's been shifting from place to place, always finding the same kind of people - sometimes the same people in various configurations - tries to locate himself in the universe. An intricate dance of adultery brings down a marriage.

A housekeeper experiences a startling epiphany while looking into her freezer one hot summer night. The long, humorous roll of a couple's "four-night fight" finally explodes into happiness.