This collection of nine short stories and a novella offers a fine introduction to the short fiction of Marie-Claire Blais. The stories range widely in setting and form, and take us from depictions of the dark period of the "Grande Noirceur" of pre-1960s Québec to civil rights activism, and on to an explosive love triangle in Paris. The first English translation of many of these stories, with an illuminating introduction by Ronald B. Hatch.