Twenty-nine women write of the experiences that have transformed their lives. Essays by Diane Ackerman, Margaret Atwood, Diane Glancy, Joan Halperin, Maxine Kumin, Madeleine L'Engle, Gloria Wade-Gayles, and more appear alongside pieces by exciting upand-coming writers. From Beth Kephart's reassessment of her relationship with the world after a near-death experience to Joan Arcari's humorous account of her double life as career girl/mother, each voice illuminates a time and place familiar to us all.