Profoundly emotional, conceptually acute, yet grounded in the grit and bravery of daily life, these 22 carefully crafted tales probe life's crisis moments and its ordinary hours. Among the stories: an encounter on a mountain trail wakens a veteran's numbed emotions, two French Resistance fighters balance desperate action and shy new love, a 1960s peace activist finds personal and political identity, to protect her baby, a single mother must fight her own terrors, a dying woman seeks a final shred of meaning, a "detained" immigrant child can no longer recall normal life, in 2460, an elegant alien and a human woman too briefly find love, Davey and Dani had, until now, outwitted each pandemic.