Diane Williams, “godmother of flash fiction” (The Paris Review), returns with 33 short, brilliant stories.

In Williams’ stories, life is newly alive and dangerous; whether she is writing about an affair, a request for money, an afternoon in a garden, or the simple act of carrying a cake from one room to the next, she offers us beautiful and unsettling new ways of seeing everyday life. In perfectly honed sentences, with a sly and occasionally wild wit, Williams shows us how any moment of any day can open onto disappointment, pleasure, and possibility.

"In Williams' stories, life is newly alive and dangerous; whether she is writing about an affair, a request for money, an afternoon in a garden, or the simple act of carrying a cake from one room to the next, she offers us beautiful, and unsettling new ways of seeing everyday life. In perfectly honed sentences, with a sly and occasionally bombastic wit, Williams shows us how any moment of any day can open onto disappointment, pleasure, and possibility"--