From the author of the classic A Piece of Mine, comes a wonderful collection of stories about ordinary women who discover that love sometimes comes when you least expect it. "With a soul stirring cry, Cooper urges readers to seize & savor every drop of life." --San Francisco Chronicle. With almost a half million copies in print, the acclaimed J. California Cooper returns triumphantly for her sixth collection of stories, re-creating the lives of "just everyday people trying to live every day" & limning the mysterious way in which people discover what is important. Maisha, the narrator of "A Shooting Star," compares her straightforward, unexciting path from "good girl" to young wife & mother with the much-talked about adventures of Lorene, who discovered the pleasures of sex at an early age & pursues them with a carefree exuberance Maisha both condemns & admires. In "The Eagle Flys," Vinnie, a single mother, devotes herself to her selfish children, letting opportunities for her own happiness slip by until it is almost too late. In "A Fillet of Soul," Louella, raised to believe she is ugly & undesirable, falls for a fast-talking con man & loses her small inheritance & her dignity; but his betrayal turns out to mark the beginning of a love affair--& a life--Louella had never imagined she would find.