For every man and woman, there is a moment still remembered when they left the things of their childhood, when the world presented itself to them in its full splendor and awfulness and they walked out of the garden, into the wider world. Bloom: Stories of the Drama of Coming of Age collects those flashing seconds of maturity and loss, of wonder and disappointment, liberation and responsibility, as they've been written by the greatest names in world literature. With the help of writers ranging from Barbara Kingsolver, Russell Banks, Sherwood Anderson, and Lorrie Moore, to Arundhati Roy, Gregor von Rezzori, Jacki Lyden, and Rick Moody, we can both remember who we once were and recommit ourselves to who we have become.