A collection of sparkling award-winning stories from Maggie Shipstead, epic storyteller and astonishing chronicler of the daring and the damaged. Diving into eclectic and vivid settings, from an Olympic village to a deathbed in Paris to a Pacific atoll, and illuminating a cast of unforgettable characters, Shipstead traverses the ordinary and extraordinary with cunning, compassion, and wit.

Meet the tough-talking cowgirl determined to defy gender expectations on a remote ranch in Texas, only to fall into a triangle of unrequited love; a white male novelist who comes to terms with the girlfriend he never had just as his literary debut goes to print; a honeymoon couple’s time in the hills of Romania builds into a moment of shattering tragedy. In the title story, a former child actress breaks away from a religious cult, as she narrates with mesmerizing candour a tale of vulnerability, loss, and the surrealism of fame.

Exuding both tenderness and bite, Shipstead exposes our darkest truths in this dazzling collection sealing her reputation as an astonishingly versatile master of fiction.