The Irish wedding -- Proof -- It's not you -- A splinter -- Mistress Mickle all at sea -- Birdsong from the radio -- The get-go -- Robinson Crusoe at the waterpark -- A walk-through human heart -- Two sad clowns -- The souvenir museum -- Nothing, darling, only darling, darling.

"Award-winning author Elizabeth McCracken is an undisputed virtuoso of the short story, and this new collection features her most vibrant and heartrending work to date"--

In these stories, the mysterious bonds of family are tested, transformed, fractured, and fortified. A recent widower and his adult son ferry to a craggy Scottish island in search of puffins. An actress who plays a children's game show villainess ushers in the New Year with her deadbeat half brother. A mother pining for her children, feasts on loaves of challah to fill the void. A new couple navigates a tightrope walk toward love. And on a trip to a Texas water park with their son, two fathers each confront a personal fear.