It was the 1950s. The war was over and women could go back to being happy housewives. But were they really happy?Women should have been contented to live a Leave it to Beaver life in the mid-20th century. They should have been fulfilled. Women's magazines told them so. Advertisers told them so. Doctors and psychologists told them so. Some were.

But some weren't.In the 1950s, women were sold a bill of goods about who they were and who they should be as women. Some bought it. But some didn't. These five stories are about the women who didn't. A teenage bride sees her future mirrored in Circe's twisted face. A woman's tragic life serves as a warning about the dangers of too much maternal devotion. And the lives of two women intersect during two birthday parties, changing both of them.

These and other moving tales of strength, discovery, and hope are about our mothers and grandmothers and the lessons their lives have to teach us.This book is the second edition of my 2017 short story collection, Gnarled Bones and Other Stories. This edition has been extensively revised, the stories changed and expanded, and the context moved from the present day to the 1950s and 1960s. This edition also includes a Foreword and a bonus chapter from The Specter, the first book of my Gilded Age family drama, the Waxwood Series.