"Normalcy is pliable. It moves as we move, adjusting itself to our lives."

In acclaimed-author Karen Lee Boren's new story collection, Ways Home, women and men, young and old, face past demons and confront current struggles, striving for brighter futures.

These 14 authentic, very human, stories traverse the country, stopping in big cities and small towns, introducing us to:

• A girl cursed by the song "Jolene"
• A ballet dancer in a tug of war between discipline and youth, family and friendship
• A young widow lost and looking for home
• An expectant mother forced to fight for her own and her child's future
• Unwanted and unavoidable ghosts dredged up with a Trans Am and a long-lost boy's body

And so much more

Every story reveals the lives of people up against the uncertainties of the world, time, and their own best and worst selves. Never hopeless, always striving, they find the strength and determination to aspire, to get by, and to maybe, just maybe, be happy.