The short story collection that launched Tabucchi to fame, reflecting on the uncertainties, memories, mistakes and mysteries of life

Eleven short stories pivoting on life's ambiguities and the central question they pose in Tabucchi's fiction: is it choice, fate, accident, or even, occasionally, a kind of magic that plays a decisive role in the protagonists' lives? Set in Paris, Lisbon, Madras and New York and blended with the author's wonderfully intelligent imagination, Tabucchi reflects on the elemental aspects of the human experience, exploring grief, uncertainty, adventure, memory and love.

'One of the most admired Italian writers of his generation' The Times

"Tabucchi writes with what Italo Calvino, who shared the same translator, called "quickness" - an agility of mind and economy of narrative that pulls the reader along" - Guardian

"Elegant ... amusing ... the magic of language, artfully used ... Tabucchi manages to play simultaneously in the treble and in the bass" - Los Angeles Times

"Meticulously crafted stories marked by wit, emotion, memory and lost grandeur" - Publishers Weekly