Most of the stories in Dennis Must"s provocative debut collection deal with characters from small towns in Pennsylvania factory towns with pottery plants and bronze foundries. These stories interlock to create a larger narrative about working-class people, whose lives are defined by the typical conflicts which shape most people"s lives: marital conflicts, conflicts between relatives, inner conflicts over personal happiness and success, and struggles to understand the mysterious nature of life and death. The emotional mysteries of families is Must"s domain. A master of revelation including mysteries alluded to by fathers and conflicting perceptions of women, his power is the twist on which these stories turn, twists that show characters as aroused and stricken by sexuality as they are by their faith.