It's about life, the turns it takes, the people along the way, its unexpected graces, its crushing moments, its bewilderments, its joys, and its questions. The theme all the way through is redemption, and that word has a lot of different meanings. What these stories add up to is an unconscious search for redemption from everything in life that goes wrong, that threatens, that takes. It's about redemption in the sense that people whose stories begin with aching can end in joy and, people who have things stolen from them in life can receive back ten-fold, unexpectedly.

As to the individual stories, they're enjoyable essays that people identify with easily and there is encouragement and even a little relief from the day or the Garrison Keillor approach. People want to know they’re not alone, and that there's hope seeing ourselves in others' experiences.