Betrayal. Few experiences are as painful, disorienting, and devastating. Reality is shattered and the void stretches ahead: black, unfathomable, and deep. Trust is broken. How can it be restored when no grace remains?

The women in these seven stories are subject to different types of betrayal. From a girl whose parents leave her an orphan to survive on her own, to an abandoned pregnant girlfriend, to a best friend’s calculated disloyalty, a college girl’s sizable loss, a hospital worker’s misfortune to resemble a drug dealer, a woman who feels let down by life itself, and a young mother struggling with the fear of losing her child.

They respond in distinctive ways, but all face wounds, losses, and life-altering setbacks.

(Several of these stories contain violence and coarse language.)