A Fresh Start , James Bottomley's first short story collection, explores human nature, relationships, and our capacity to improve ourselves, change course, and begin anew. These tales feature people struggling to triumph over rivals, free themselves from toxic situations, and reframe their understanding of their own past values and experiences. Many of Bottomley's characters are flawed people making flawed decisions, mistreating those they are closest to, and only sometimes finding the will and the strength to become better human beings. Like the people who populate A Fresh Start, we are all imprisoned by ingrained ways of thinking and encountering the world, from cultural norms to family dynamics to our personal biochemistries. Perhaps the surprising idea isn't that some people fail to evolve beyond the constraints of our past and present circumstances but that any of us manage it at all.