This celebrated collection opens with "Nora Jane and Company", a series of nine stories featuring one of the most popular characters in the Gilchrist galaxy: a former teenage runaway who once robbed a bar in New Orleans dressed as a nun. Now living happily in Berkeley, married and the mother of twins, Nora Jane is back in college, pregnant again, launching a new career, and facing circumstances that imperil her domestic bliss.The nine stories that follow explore the hazards of recapturing and reviving old affairs. Featuring both new and familiar Gilchrist characters, all of these stories shed brilliant new light on the oldest emotion.