In this new collection of twelve stories, first published individually in British and American periodicals including The New Yorker and Harper's, William Trevor develops the themes that have characterized his previous fiction, while demonstrating his inventiveness with new material. Trevor was born in County Cork, a Protestant in Catholic Ireland, but left Ireland as a young man to earn his living in England. Seven of these stories are set in Ireland, four in London, and the title story in Italy. Most critics agree that, while Trevor is equally at home in all three landscapes, his best work is set in Ireland, whose history and culture dominated his childhood and continue to inspire his storytelling. Trevor's novels and short stories have won a number of literary prizes; he has been called the finest living writer of short fiction in English. He resists the judgment of critics who...