"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.