The men and women in these spare, Kafkaesque stories are engaged in struggles that are no less brutal because they are fought by proxy. In Graham Swift's taut prose, these quiet combative relationships-between a mismatched couple; an aging doctor and his hypochondriacal patient; a teenage refugee swept up in the conflict between an oppressively sentimental father and his rebellious son-become a microcosm for all human cruelty and need. "Swift proves throughout this ambitious collection that he is a master of his language and the construction of provocative situations."-Houston Chronicle