In this collection of fourteen stories-mostly set among working folks in the Hudson River Valley of New York-music, food, philosophy, and magic weave through tales that are by turns gritty, aching, and comical. Characters grapple with unfulfilled dreams in a dizzying, often alien culture. Meet a Bronx Italian Zen master with a baby and an ex-football-star partner...a young curator assigned to coddle an infamous avant-garde artist whose assistant threatens...