Quin Archer is the revenge-loving queen of the reality TV show "Payback," and has dedicated her life to confronting and outing the guilty. But long before she was a star, Quin was an angry teenage student at a private New England girls’ school, whose closest confidant was her art teacher, Agnes. But when Quin (then known as Heidi) turned to Agnes for help in a moment of desperate need, Agnes’ stunned response devastated them both.

In Mary Gordon’s novellas of relationships at home and abroad, both historical and contemporary, we meet the ferocious Simone Weil during her final days as a transplant to New York City; a vulnerable American grad student who escapes to Italy after her first, compromising love affair; the charming Irish liar of the title story, who gets more out of life than most of us; and Thomas Mann, opening the heart of a high school kid in the Midwest.

As teenagers, Miranda and Adam began a love affair that endured through college only to end in a painful betrayal. When a mutual friend brings them together in present-day Rome, they haven't seen each other in more than three decades. The two embark on daily walks, reconnecting in the heart of this beautiful city, which still holds passionate memories.