A woman boards a train in search of a life-changing event, a gunshot victim receives a troubling visitor from the past, a photographer works on an elusive project entitled The Big Book of the Dead. These are some of the threads that weave through this collection of short stories where individuals are confronted by events that overwhelm and enlighten them in turn, leaving each to ponder where things may have gone awry and what, if any, the right course of action might be. These stories, newly translated by Mícheál Ó hAodha, were originally published in Irish as Litir ó mo Mháthair Altrama agus Scéalta Eile (2005).