The sixty-eight short works in this collection (some only a paragraph, others a few pages) straddle memoir and fiction, exploring the nuances of sexuality, motherhood, love, and ambition. Like Lydia Davis, Aurelie Sheehan’s stories are potent miniatures that blossom out from seemingly insignificant encounters and objects. Jewelry Box is a collection of intimate renderings of the life that surrounds us, just under the surface.

Aurelie Sheehan is author of two novels, History Lesson for Girls and The Anxiety of Everyday Objects, and the story collection Jack Kerouac Is Pregnant. She teaches in the MFA program at the University of Arizona in Tucson.