In this new col­lec­tion of short sto­ries that Ben Foun­tain declares ​“all mar­vels,” Robin Romm (author of The Mer­cy Papers) rev­els in the mess behind the slick veneer of mod­ern life. A finan­cial­ly-strapped col­lege stu­dent sells her sought-after ​“Ivy League eggs” to a movie star, then wres­tles with her feel­ings as the child grows up in the pub­lic eye. A long-mar­ried wife in the midst of a bun­gled kitchen remod­el imag­ines the excite­ment of her neighbor’s unsta­ble erot­ic life. Iso­lat­ed by quar­an­tine, a young wid­ow con­tends with a talk­ing daf­fodil that pan­ders to her in ther­a­py-speak. Dis­qui­et­ing, orig­i­nal, and strange­ly reas­sur­ing, these ten new sto­ries make quick work of the easy truths and thought­less salvos that keep us from see­ing the wild­ness of our irre­ducible lives.