Sometimes, it doesn't take much to completely upend life. In these 13 stories, the Irish author Gerard Donovan writes for the first time about his homeland, proving himself to be a keen observer of the human soul and modern Ireland. As in his successful novel "Winter in Maine," Donovan tells of people who suddenly come to an unusual realization about themselves and their lives, and must learn to live with this lightning-like insight. He writes about individuals who become homeless in their own homeland, who lose their connection to the past, and who suffer from a loss of humanity. Three friends swim every morning in Galway Bay, but one day, one of them accidentally overhears the other two wondering if he knows that his wife is cheating on him. A man drives with his wife.