Journal Entry 1 by AliceF from Coventry, Warwickshire United Kingdom on Sunday, December 11, 2011

Slyly and perceptively, Carol Shields surveys the whole range of life's surprises, the quirks of chance and conincidence, the setbacks and improvisations. The stories collected here offer an entrancing look at some of the various miracles of everyday life: the housewife who transforms herself into a successful saleswoman; the special intimacy that binds a group of strangers at an evening class; the ideal husband who is really an arrogant bore and the prosaic woman who becomes a poem.