Following the death of her parents, Sage Willows had lovingly nurtured her younger sisters through childhood. She'd seen each one married, and was glad they were settled and happy. Sage had never resented not having the time to find a good man of her own to settle down with, but regret is far more haunting then resentment. Sage found a measure of joy as the proprietress of Willow's Boarding House and in the companionship of the four beloved widow-women...

"As winter deepens in snowbound Pollard, Illinois, thirty-something Francis Falbo is holed up in his attic apartment, recovering from a series of traumas: his mother's death, his beloved wife's desertion, and his once-ascendant rock band's irreconcilable break-up. Francis hasn't shaved in months, hasn't so much as changed out of his bathrobe--"the uniform of a Life in Default"--for nine days. Other than the agoraphobia that continues to hold him hostage,...