You may see a stranger

This collection of linked stories spans the life of Miranda Weber from her teens through her late 40s. Miranda Weber is a hot mess. In Paula Whyman's debut collection of stories, we find her hoarding duct tape to ward off terrorists, stumbling into a drug run with a crackhead, and--frequently--enduring the bad behavior of men. A drivers' education class pulsing with racial tension is the unexpected context of her sexual awakening. As she comes of age, and in the three decades that follow, the potential for violence always hovers nearby. Miranda can be lascivious, sardonic, and maddeningly self-destructive, but, no matter what befalls her, she never loses her sharp wit or powers of observation, which illuminate both her own life and her strange, unsettling times.

Miranda Weber is a hot mess. As she comes of age in this collection of stories, which span her life from her teens through her late 40s, she has her sexual awakening; is haunted by the fate of her disabled sister; and faces the threats of crime and terror in her hometown of Washington, D.C.