Anne Bianco’s debut collection Throwing Tarts At the King contains stories and essays whose diverse characters struggle with loss, class disparities, and time. They are “the walking wounded.” A lawyer who simultaneously mourns and envies his older brother’s legacy and regrets his own lost chances finds connection to the tangible in a brawl with a truck driver. A garbage man by day and a zoo security guard by night reaches for autonomy and love when he sheds dependence on an old friend. After his older, idolized brother saves his life, a young boy accepts the possibility of a future without him. A shopaholic reviews the dearth of romantic choices in her life and tries to fill the hole in her soul by finding friendship with a jewelry counter clerk.