Vintage International

Collected in a single volume for the first time—an unforgettable book of short stories from the Booker Prize-winning author of Possession that explores the fragile ties between generations, the dizzying abyss of loss, and the elaborate memories we construct against it. 

In this book of short fictions, A.S. Byatt compels us to inhabit other lives and returns us to our own with new knowledge, compassion, and a sense of wonder.

"Byatt's stories display all her talents as a novelist, but spiced with an additional friskiness." —Evening Standard"Byatt's stories display all her talents as a novelist, but spiced with an additional friskiness ... a bright, sensual prose that seems to paint rather than describe, giving a teacup, a mountainside, or the night sky a texture and density that go beyond words on a page." —Evening StandardA. S. Byatt was the author of numerous novels, including The Children’s Book, The Biographer’s Tale, and Possession, which was awarded the Booker Prize. She also wrote two novellas, published together as Angels & Insects, five collections of short stories, and several works of nonfiction. A distinguished critic and author, and the recipient of the 2016 Erasmus Prize for her “inspiring contribution to ‘life writing,’” she died in 2023.