Now available in paperback, a collection of interconnected stories by an award-winning writer with a distinctive voice and an unerring sense of place.

The stories in this affecting debut collection are populated by the sober, self-effacing members of Detroit's Polish-Catholic working class. Linked by place and characters, the stories create a world both familiar and strange, where religion is a way of life and traditions are carried down through the generations. But even this isolated community cannot remain immutable.

In these wonderfully poignant and...

Candy Golden is in trouble. Her mother has died. And she's quit her team after being falsely accused of having sex with her Detroit high school basketball coach. Her aunts are hurting too: Grandaunt Gloria's husband had a fatal stroke nine months ago, and Aunt Elizabeth and her husband have just divorced. Still, Glo and Elizabeth travel to Candy from their homes in Chicago and L.A. to set the girl straight and get her back on the basketball court. Glo plans the weeklong road trip to Northern Michigan--her idea is to save Candy with a combination of tough love and religious dogma. Elizabeth...