A girl changes into a fox in self-defense. An idealist imagines what her new leader should look like, using her pets as reference. Guerrilla gardeners at dawn are sowing life-saving hope. A traveler delights in tasting European chefs. And a cruel ritual for teenage women turns into a revolution.

The fifty stories in this collection transport the listener from an Amsterdam canal to the Oaxacan coast, from a silt-streaked Venice to an imaginary world, from an Icelandic waterfall to a hall of mirrors.

Women play roles to find themselves, resist oblivion, break laws, swallow regrets, take revenge, follow their passions, and eat spiders. They're everyday women climbing over obstacles and forging life to meet their needs. They dream of connection and find it in peculiar ways. They're resilient. They're brilliant. They're . . . you.