“Interesting women — are we ever going to be free of them? I meet them everywhere these days, now that there is no longer such a thing as an interesting man.”

This first line of the story, “Interesting Women,” in the book of the same name by Andrea Lee, sums up beautifully this collection of 13 variegated stories.

Lee’s mimetic prose and world-wise tone take the reader from distant places such as the Caribbean to Italy to West Virginia through the voice of a range of different women.

The title story tells of a white American woman vacationing in Thailand who meets a mysterious New Age bohemian named Silver.

Because of the bond they instantly form due to their similarly difficult past marriages, they spend a day together traveling through the jungle and the streets of Bangkok, only to learn how fragile and short-lived a friendship can be between two interesting women.

In an almost playful fashion, Lee experiments with form quite a bit in “The Golden Chariot”, written as a short “play” in which the characters never speak, but the reader is given glimpses into the minds of a black family of five as they travel from Philadelphia to Seattle in the early ’60s.

The father’s concern for the safety of the family, the wife’s agoraphobia and the college-age son’s longing to join his friends in the civil rights movement rather than drive across the country with his family all come to the fore in an exploration of race, age and family unity.

“Winter Barley,” the last story in the collection, delves into the uncomplicated yet strange relationship between a former European prince in Scotland and an American bank manager living in Rome who is only half his age.

Each story in “Interesting Women” is written with a prominent sense of flavor.

Lee’s descriptive but simple writing is both prosaic and charming at the same time — she is never flowery, but there is certainly a modicum of romance in each line.

Many of the stories do more than just describe the lives of interesting women, and actively engaging the reader to question the nature of race, age, gender and nationality on a global scale.

Though the narrator in each story has a different race, nation of origin and life history, I didn’t feel that each character had a particularly well-defined voice — it is as if Lee’s voice as a writer overpowers the individuality she tries to impart on her characters.

This gives the characters a common “thread” throughout the book, but one that doesn’t seem particularly necessary or convincing as a literary device, and something that muscles out the more subtle themes she is trying to convey.

“Interesting Women” is a unique collection of patchwork stories that lives up to its title both in the lyrically tactile style and the complex nature of the characters within.