"The lives of a reformed hit man, a crusading doctor, a genteel mobster, and a headstrong college student cross in a sweltering Midwestern city in 1970"--

Portrait of a professor at a Midwestern university who has been patient in his grief after an accident takes the lives of his wife and child and has permitted that grief to enlarge him.

Best-selling author Meghan Daum is a popular contributor to such publications as The New Yorker, Harper's, and Vanity Fair. In this wickedly funny and provocative novel, New York lifestyle reporter Lucinda Trout heads to the Midwest for a taste of "real life." But as she finds out, the heartland isn't quite the paradise it seems. Full of poignant insights and peppered with outrageous humor, this marvelously entertaining tale castigates modern vanity....

When a local nursery introduces a gardening contest, the gardeners of Livia jump into the competition with a vengeance, including a middle-aged couple who risk their retirement savings, a garden witch, and a self-styled gardening expert.

Learning on the night of her sister's birth that a daughter has been lost in every generation of her Korean family, Janie assumes a protective role over her sister while learning more cautionary stories from her optimistic father and mythology-minded mother.