Helen Simpson

A collection of dark stories charting tantrums, funerals, pregnancy, war and love affairs. One woman finds grief for her lost lover is assuaged by involvement in some carpentry repair work, while another grows increasingly angry as the grim reaper scythes through her circle, with farcical and tragic results; amongst other tales which unroll with piercing wit and sympathy.

A collection of stories threaded with a sense of anxiety and fear: of growing old, of commitment, and, most worryingly, of the growing threat to the environment.