Pianos and Flowers

Subtitled 'brief encounters of the romantic kind', these new short stories, - some of which were originally commissioned by the Sunday Times - are adventurous imaginative journeys elaborated from old black-and-white photographs and based on what the author fancied that they might have depicted. The results are highly readable, entertaining and often surprising though ingenious elaboration, sometimes picking out small details and creating whole family histories. Many of the stories conjure up moving and poignant tableaux from the human condition with its myriad complex relationships. Each story has its own distinctive character, suffused with the author's gentle and penetrating humour, even when figures receive their often well merited comeuppance - an old family friend used to say that a sense of humour was a sense of proportion, which comes across finely calibrated in this wonderful collection. I should also say that it has been fun reading them out loud.