“Painter’s collection is aptly named. Her stories deal with weather of the heart and mind; with chance occurrence and its strangely fateful interruption; with events sensed, yet never quite predictable. She is a writer to read wiht pleasure and surprise.”
—Jayne Anne Phillips
"Pamela Painter is a writer who seems to revel in setting herself new challenges, in trying to get inside a host of different characters who move through vastly different worlds. Even within a single story, she can slide effortlessly from one character's point of view to another's. . . . This is a virtuoso performance, graceful and brave and full of feeling."
—The New York Times
An award-winning first collection of stories puts Pamela Painter on the literary map. An unforgettable story brings Buddy Rich to life and highlights the auspicious beginnings of an aspiring drummer’s career. Another story follows a “second story” burglar into a home where two people are ostensibly sleeping, except that one of them whispers “kill him” into the night. Parents fight over children, and children make dramatic discoveries and tragic decisions all on their own. The final story gives the title to the collection and provides the real-world education a woman needs to be free.