In her luminous collection of short stories, Maureen F. McHugh wryly and delicately examines the impacts of social and technological shifts on families. Using beautiful, deceptively simple prose, she illuminates the relationship between parents and children and the expected and unexpected chasms that open between generations. A woman has to introduce her new lover to her late brother. A teenager is interviewed about her peer group's attitude to sex . . . and baby boomers. A missing stepson sets a marriage on edge. McHugh's characters, her Alzheimersafflicted parents or her smart, rebellious teenagers are always recognizable: stubborn, sharp, human, and heartbreakingly real.

• short storiesfictioncollection