WOW. I am in pieces on the floor, reeling and desperate for whatever Polly Rosenwaike's next book will be because right now I feel like only more of her words will be able to put me back together. I am not a mother, I've not had an abortion or a miscarriage or lost a child but... these stories shook me to the core, easily handing me the empathy I needed to be rocked by the good times and the very bad had within these pages. Each time I was comfortably following along, getting to know the characters, I was hit with the confusion of a casual couple's discovery that they'd accidentally conceived, or a happy new mother's world rocked by a newborn lost to SIDS, or complex family drama over who decides a baby's upbringing, or postpartum depression, or a single woman forced to choose between an abortion or raising the baby alone- as she watched her older friend decide after too many failed attempts that she'd adopt, etc.

I am simply astounded at Rosenwaike's transformative ability to write broad stories that fit into such a brief number of pages. If you're a fan of fiction but don't tend to pick up short story collections- I'm pretty sure this book will change your mind. I'm sort of a recent convert myself. Over the last 2 years I've read perhaps a dozen collections and loved more than half, but Rosenwaike has fully opened my eyes to the potential of a brilliant story, she is truly something else. Incorporating second person narratives, lists, and wonderfully succinct character arcs- I savored it all.