In May 1991, fans of National Public Radio's All Things Considered discovered Marion Winik, a candid and often hilarious personal essayist whose cliffhanger past and action-packed present reflect her entire generation's stormy voyage to maturity. From adolescent rebellion in New Jersey to bohemian decadence in Manhattan to the sometime-salvation of motherhood in Texas, Winik bravely chronicles the intimate experiences and decisions that shape us as adult.

"A born iconoclast, an aspiring artiste, a feminist vegetarian prodigal daughter, from early youth I considered myself destined to lead a startling life far outside the bounds of convention. I would be famous, dangerous, brilliant, and relentlessly cool: a sort of cross between Emma Goldman, Jack Kerouac, and Georgia O'Keeffe....So where did this station wagon come from?".

In pieces on subjects as diverse as sibling relationships, psychedelic drugs, parenthood, AIDS, and breastfeeding in public, with a case of characters ranging from hapless houseguests and bad-news beaux to gay friends, hero friends, and Friends You Love to Hate, Winik fuses the cadences of heart-to-heart talk with the concision of poetry. She takes us on a journey both personal and universal, a tour of the minefield of chance and circumstance that makes a life.

There is great loss here - from a family pet to a parent to a baby. There are many pitfalls - from bulimia to drug addiction to the ordinary trauma of a stolen purse. Ultimately, though, there is a passion and energy for living, an unshaken belief that following one's heart is more important than following the rules, and a conviction that no dark secret is ever as dark as one thinks. Winik, in fact, is a connoisseur of her own foibles

1. "The only thing that sticks with me is a kind of fitful, half-baked antimaterialism, an impatience with the tyranny of objects. Because of it, I just don't notice what kind of car other people drive, or the puddle I'm about to step into, or where I set down my bag when I got home. And this leaves the door wide open to the cold wind of chaos, which sweeps through my life at unpredictable intervals to exact its toll.".

This hip, funny, and moving collection marks the appearance of an appealing new voice in contemporary writing.