The planets move slowly. But they make their transits. And then your whole life changes. When someone close to you leaves, your entire life shifts, whether you want it to or not. Everything becomes different. Alice is the heroine of these five stories, all of which tell about her—and about what life and love are like when people are no longer there. Things are left behind: books, letters, pictures, and occasionally, one misreads a face. Life paths intersect, change direction, and are irretrievably pulled apart. The author of "Sommerhaus, später" and "Nichts als Gespenster" writes stories of immense power and great literary beauty.