A collection showcasing the trademark piercing insight and sardonic humour of one of Canada's true masters of the short story.

A woman carries a placard bearing the question "Are you content to be nothing?" as she conducts her way through the interconnected stories of this thought-provoking collection. A pianist herself, eventually she'll be the soloist in her own story, but first we'll encounter the contrapuntal lines of "Cafe Society", the discord of "The Companion's Tale", the slowly evolving dark harmonic resolution of "Aquarium".

These are the songs of people – many of them seniors – sidelined and dismissed, but refusing to go gently into that good night – a night that isn't even on their concert program! Be it through a percussive storm of revelation, or a quietly insistent ostinato that won't be ignored, this is an orchestra of characters never content to be nothing, determined to be heard.