Set in rural Georgia, the stories in this collection are painted with a backdrop of Southern charm and hospitality. The quintessential, Georgian pastoral glimmers at the forefront. What lies behind that veil is rural mediocrity—the loneliness, alienation, sadness, and loss that some characters attempt not to see, while others attempt to escape.

Warm breezes stir the maple trees in “Lonesome Road Blues,” only to reveal a widow resigned to the notion that loneliness is inescapable, even with another at one’s side. The story highlights loneliness as its own form of nostalgia, something accepted, sought, and endured. The “Solomon’s Seal” protagonist plants a country Eden of strawberries, corn, tomatoes, and melons, but she is bitter and alone, suffering 40 years in failed marriage, until her husband asks for a divorce because he thinks she killed his dogs. The natural beauty of her garden, however, stems from her loneliness. The lonelier she feels, the more her garden grows. The one plant that refuses to grow, ironically, is the one that could make her somewhat happy—the Solomon Seal.

In “A Man Among Men,” dogs, deer, and blue-tailed roosters roam freely by the creek on the outskirts of town. The township goes about its business while in the backdrop lies the corpse of a man—a man who relegated himself to wither away after his beloved dog and only hope for companionship died.