The central figure in many of these stories is the psychically wounded World War II veteran who is absent. Here the definition of the family is changed, and its re-imagining remains problematic. Challenges are posed to characters' ideas about selfhood and their role as daughters, mothers, sisters, friends, wives and lovers. A major theme of the collection is the search for place—within the family, and within the larger context of the post-war¸ post-modern world. The search for place often involves a search for faith as well.