Acquainted with Squalor delivers astonishing power of body-and-soul. Meteors fall, an old neighbor tosses an infrared Phoenix beacon into a cup of loose change, and a woman on the phone with a friend mentions nothing about her eviction notice. These nine stories nourish our sense of wonder and acknowledge our deepest despair. Who has the endearing audacity to call a lover "Governor General"? Who will sit down together on a hot day to eat frozen blueberries on a country lawn? Nath Jones captures what it means for us to be at home and still awash in the world.