Part novel, part fantasy, part social history, this collection of short stories set in the valleys of South Wales follows the lives of two sisters, Grace and Tamar. As these dark, universal stories detail their volatile sibling rivalry--on several occasions they almost kill each other--their disruptive coming of age, and dubious maturity, they express how utterly strange it is to learn to become human. While each story is complete in its own right, together they form a continuous and powerful sequence.