A collection of stories that Carolyn Osborn has developed over two decades about a single family, the Moores. Marianne, the main narrator of these stories about her mother's family, says, "The truth is sometimes a poor, sad thing - wax fruit melted in an attic, a lone mule wandering on the front lawn, a mute player piano - a few insubstantial fragments. All we could do was grab hold and make something more of them.”