Once upon a time, Howland was peers with Joyce Carol Oates and Margaret Atwood. She was mentored by Saul Bellow and won a MacArthur grant in 1983. Then she was forgotten. This collection aims to revive her literary reputation. In her stories, she documents the changing landscape of Chicago, those affected by white flight, particularly the old and the poor. I didn't love all the stories, but 30+ years later, many of them still feel relevant.