This debut collection takes readers to small-town Ohio, New York City, and beyond, presenting the unique voices of troubled characters-Polish and Ukrainian, young and old, rich and poor-as they face life-altering challenges and struggle with their faith in religion, family, society, and themselves.

A Polish immigrant catches his son making porn and tries to punish the local video store for inspiring him; a Christian teenager keeps her rapist's baby, only to be banned from her high school yearbook; a pastor shocks his congregation by using his sermon to confess to an old crime; a lawyer haunted by his sister's murder is asked to witness the murderer's execution; and a daughter of Russian immigrants, now successful on Wall Street, gets stuck in rapidly rising waters after ignoring warnings about Superstorm Sandy. In ten unforgettable stories that draw on a range of inspirations, from the Bible to recent headlines, Paul Linczak boldly probes the dark to ask about the ideals we believe in and illuminates the powerful human moments that spring from confrontations with an often merciless, and aggressively changing, world.

Unsparing and tender, with a vision that ranges across borders without missing the small, telling detail, Swinica vividly presents a slice of American life, full of danger, bewilderment, determination, and hope.