Ru Freeman's debut story collection gives dreamy attention to lives. Young or middle-aged, the characters in Sleeping Alone establish themselves in distant places and are catalyzed by separation and grief. Married or single, they are ordinary people in a perpetual drift, often dissatisfied. They are uncomfortable in their skins.

In the "The Irish Girl," a Sri Lankan man named Don rents a room in an ancestral Dublin house owned by Madailein. Shortly after his arrival, Madailein charms him with her friendly personality, more roommate than landlord: "I remember Madailein's first private words to me — their intimacy, their irreverence, how much they became her." They celebrate what they have in common: Both are 30-plus married drinkers who share a sense of sarcasm and wit. But when Madailein's husband moves out, her personality changes. Ambivalent and restrained, she stops singing, ...