In these twelve stories that unfold over a few hours or a weekend or five decades, adults deceive themselves about their motives - greed, desire for control, jealousy, fear, ambition. With unflinching realism, reminiscent of William Trevor, Cynthia Flood exposes the failings of the human heart and with a marvellous unsentimental brutality leaves many a character unredeemed.

Cynthia Flood's most recent book, Red Girl Rat Boy (Biblioasis 2013) was shortlisted for the BC Book Prizes' fiction award and long-listed for the Frank O'Connor award, besides appearing on "best of year" lists for Quill & Quire and January Magazine. Earlier collections are The English Stories (Biblioasis 2009), My Father Took a Cake to France, and The Animals in their Elements. Her work has been selected six times for Best Canadian Stories, and appears often in both print and on-line literary magazines. She lives in Vancouver, British Columbia.