A reclusive bookseller begins to feel the discomfort of love again. A widow whisks her daughter away for a holiday she can barely afford, desperate to help the two of them grieve. A neglected teenage boy finds much-needed nurturing from an unlikely pair of college students. A proud man rages helplessly at his granddaughter's hospital bedside. A writer receives a visit from all of the men who have tried to suppress her voice. These romantic but brutally raw stories explore desire, heartache, moments of shocking cruelty and the inexorable tug toward love at all costs. This profoundly tender collection confirms Lily King as one of our most accomplished and beloved chroniclers of the human heart.