A surprising collection of short fiction, fresh and contemporary. Rosenblum's characters are mostly in their twenties, rootless and groping blindly through lives that don't seem to be leading them anywhere. Some have jobs, but mostly these are dead-end and menial. These are not people accustomed to luck or luxury. Life is tough, their clothes are thin, and they feel the cold when the wind blows. The rewards they find are in the small things: a quick taste of Vietnamese beef stew, the light falling through leaves, the reassuring warmth of an old sweater. We connect with them emotionally because we have all known what it's like to wake up in the morning and have no idea what the day will bring. A fine book by a promising young writer. A finalist for the Danuta Gleed Award. ( )