Rita is dedicated. Ask her math students, or her baby brother, Grim, whom she raised after their mother died and their father disappeared, or her husband, Mayes Mello, a cryophysicist. They'll all agree. What they won't say is that Rita is also prone to hallucinations and at times is "in danger".

Rita's is a world of orphans, disconnected from their lineage, from their history, bouncing between destitution and hope. Like many of us, they grab meaning where they can. Whether it's Grim and his towing business, or his girlfriend, Butter (for her mellow beauty), and her teaching job at Sacred Lamb School, or ex-con Byron "Belly Man" Mason and his Exchequer Car Wash and Detail Shop ... man, they get by. Even though their bond -- the history of their race -- is as incidental as the time and place they share, they hold on, reaching out and struggling to make their own connections.

Like the culture it defines, Luminous Mysteries is memorable, spare and generous, mysterious and funny, distinctive.