The stories in this debut collection take us into the lives of a diverse group of people with ties to the fictional town of Mount Vista, Mississippi. Beginning at the height of World War II, the first story, “Walking Air,” is centered on a teenage girl whose grief propels her to wander wraithlike at night through the streets of the town. Loss and a search for acceptance are also reflected in “The Wishing Part,” the only narrative told from a male point of view. Like the heroine of “Walking Air,” the nine-year-old boy at the heart of this story finds his loneliness magnified by geography. In contrast to this dreamlike quality, “The News from Pleasant Cove” and “Arcadia” present us with spirited older women, taking back their lives after years of disappointment. Love seems to be out of the reach of many of the women in these stories yet they keep striving. When she least expects it, the unmarried drugstore clerk of “June Drop” finds love late in life. Meanwhile, the narrator of “In the Foothills” makes an unwise choice, and we soon realize she’s likely to repeat it.