P { margin-bottom: 0.1in; direction: ltr; line-height: 120%; text-align: left; widows: 2; orphans: 2; }In these twelve stories, a brain injured young man rebels against his diminished life, a doorman at one of London's exclusive hotels impersonates a deceased client, a retired banker tries to renew his importance by sculpting and erecting an enormous spire in his front yard, a young wife discovers the betrayal going on under her own roof, and in the concluding story railing against her daughter's self-destructive life and wasted potential, the grieving mother longs to recapture the past. The characters in this short story collection are possessed by varying degrees of obsession and madness. The loneliness, longing and emptiness that lead to the search for meaning and connection in the midst of tumultuous personal change are achieved in unusual ways. From diverse walks of life and settings, young and old, the characters' every love relationship, every betrayal tests their assumptions and reshapes the future.