Two friends fall under the spell of a New York beauty — with an unexpected outcome. A casual remark is taken seriously by a Chinese sculptor, and the British Ambassador becomes the owner of a priceless work of art... An insurance claims adviser has a most surprising encounter on the train home to Sevenoaks. The openings to three of this marvellous collection of stories that ends with a hauntingly written, atmospheric account of two undergraduates at Oxford in the 1930s, a tale of bitter rivalry that ends in a memorable love story.