A graceful, moving new collection by the author of The Report How close can we come to love, success, happiness, forgiveness? An older woman, irritated with her wealthy young neighbor's yard "improvements," offers a corner of her lawn to a Croatian immigrant who wants a vegetable garden. A recent college graduate living in New York City finds himself in a strangely entangled friendship with his dry cleaner and her son. A daughter accompanies her father to Israel, where, seeing a new side of him away from her mother, she makes an unusual bargain. Through thirteen stories, some stand-alone, others woven with linked characters, Kane questions the tensions between friendship and neighborliness, home and travel, family and ambition. In writing filled with wit and humor and incredible poignancy, she deftly reveals the everyday patterns that, over time, can swerve a life off course.

Jessica Francis Kane’s first novel, The Report, was a Barnes & Noble Discover selection and a finalist for both the Center for Fiction’s 2010 Flaherty-Dunnan First Novel Prize and the Indie Booksellers’ Choice Award. She is a contributor to The Morning News and lives in New York City.

Praise for Jessica Francis Kane:
 
“Jessica Francis Kane’s stories take place in what feels like Lorrie Moore and Alice Munro country—they smartly uncork the heartache, panic and frustration of characters caught in situations that expose their vulnerability.”—The New York Times Book Review
 
“Neat, sharp, observant, and with a good ear, so that she hits the note every time…. She’s discerned the enormous gap between what people say and do, and what is actually going on inside them, and in that gap she moves swiftly and nimbly.”—Hilary Mantel, author of Wolf Hall
 
“Kane’s sparse but poignant writing satisfies, and our intimate access to her characters and their heartrending stories will convince even the optimist that some sad stories need telling.”—San Francisco Chronicle