First published 1994
Mr. Barrett discovers his worst fears about his daughter's romantic entanglements with the famous poet Browning. The father's mounting anxiety drives him to desperate measures as he tries to control a situation spinning beyond his grasp. Meanwhile, a mild-mannered literary agent finds himself thrust into a hostage situation that transforms his quiet professional life into something far more dangerous. In another tale, a country parson encounters a man who appears to be his exact double, a meeting that shakes his understanding of his own identity. These encounters force ordinary people to confront extraordinary circumstances that reveal hidden truths about themselves. Amis crafts each story around moments when comfortable assumptions crumble, leaving his characters to navigate unfamiliar emotional territory. The collection explores how people respond when their carefully ordered worlds suddenly shift beneath them.
Genres: fiction, short-stories, literary-fiction, 20th-century
Vibes: atmospheric, intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: ordinary-people-in-extraordinary-circumstances, unreliable-narrator
Period: 20th-century
192 pages · Paperback · Penguin