I read and enjoyed Pye’s earlier books, River of Dust and Dreams of the Red Phoenix, both historical novels set in China. Because of my own familiarity with China, I was drawn to these stories of conflict between American missionaries and their Chinese counterparts, set against a backdrop of enormous changes taking place in Chinese society.

Wow. Here is a collection of rather stunning short stories, spanning varied ideals and lives, each succeeding in quietly unsettling my mind. The writing is so sure of itself, it was quite satisfying to get to the end of each story. Not to oversimplify, they are about: a man meeting his dying friend to act as best man in his Reno wedding; a woman traveling with her children in Italy; an art dealer (and a stray dog); an aspiring skater, his tag-along brother, and their condescending father; the brutal murder of a family on New Year’s, and a trip to NYC; burying a rotting bird on Easter; a middle aged artist and his “big” break (in his work and from his family); a young woman in Cambridge struggling to find a passion for work, and sticking near to her hometown & her aging parents; and a man and a woman, each married to other people, not so quietly carrying out an affair.