This short story collection is more proof of what a consummate writer MacDonald was. These stories, with one exception, don't pack the punch that his novels do, but each one holds your interest throughout. It would be interesting to know in exactly what publication each appeared, but the copyrights page only lists publisher names. A couple of these are more family-oriented pieces, such as the title story. One is about fishing. More than one concerns infidelity. Of course, all the stories are about more than that. Each features MacDonald moralizing, even if it is often hidden between the lines rather than explicit as in the novels. The protagonists are often not likable. In short, if you like his novels, you should enjoy this book. It is a very quick read. Only one story has any real length, "The Trap of Solid Gold", which concerns a young Junior Executive's struggles to make ends meet on his salary while putting up the front that his job requires if he is to get the big payoff down the road when he may end up running the whole company. Frankly, the details about the money here made me tense just reading about them - luckily I don't have this type of problem at the moment - but it makes you pretty uncomfortable just reading about how close insolvency may be, given a few unexpected accidents. Reading this story, I wondered if it was MacDonald's way of exploring what might have been for him (he was a Harvard MBA) if he had taken a different career path. Luckily for us, he didn't. ( )