The Nipple of the Queen

“You ruined my life,” the departing husband tells his wife in the opening story. Like Circe, she wonders how she came to have such terrible powers--and whether she really has them. In other stories, a young boy tries to understand why he has lost the affection of a much-loved uncle, an elderly couple battle like siblings, and a middle-aged woman is forced to confront the fact that her mother loved a close friend more than she loved her daughter. Love misunderstood, often doubted, often disappointing--the characters in these twenty stories struggle to make sense of it. To varying degrees they succeed, but all find it a difficult and dangerous enterprise. And some wonder whether love is even necessary.