"These seven stories discover something of what lies beneath the ordinary surfaces of decent people," says George P. Elliott in his introduction to this volume. "Mr. Cassill's characters are for the most part," he continues, "white respectable Middle-Western Protestants, and their way of life is lethal enough. But his heresy is to treat them as possible human beings who in fact do go on living as we live - dreadfully troubled but possible, human, living." Cassill obviously incorporates in his best work all the uncommon qualities listed by Elliott, plus quite a few more: psychological precision, sociological understanding and philosophical thrust, not to mention a command of organic form in the short story and a remarkable range of flexible styles.