Here is a collection of short stories with widely ranging subjects and emotions: from the whimsical recollections of a pre-teen about her mother"s family in "Para Lollie, Con Amor," to the somber musings of a woman whose guilt conflicts with the reality of a nursing home in "The Golden Years." In between are stories about the loss of a child, alcoholism, rape, a ten year old"s account of his dysfunctional family and life in New York City seen through the eyes of a romantic seventeen year old. To complete the collection is a series of sketches -- slices of life about war, the sixties, love, and exotic connections to past civilizations.