From Depression era Mississippi to the suburbs of modern America, to the trials and tribulations of smart young women struggling to make a name for themselves in the arts, Feldman delves deep into the dreams and emotions of regular people and makes them beautiful and accessible. This prize-winning collection of short stories and two novellas, offers entrancing tales of redemption, betrayal, tradition, and rebellion. These narratives range in mood from "The Lapedo Child," a tale of discovery and liberation, to "The Witch Bottle," a comic examination of a pair of obsessed next-door neighbors. "Untitled Number 20" explores life among women artists at the end of the Flower Power era and the beginning of the Seventies. "The Stages" is a meditation on one woman's struggle for dignity in the face of divorce and untreatable cancer.Whether it's the end of a marriage, or a struggle for fame, these works probe issues that give us that "shock of recognition" that is the hallmark of great art-wonderful, absorbing fiction that will be read and reread for decades to come.