The accidental discovery of chapters from an unfinished novel and of unpublished stories made the publication of this anthology of Attia Hosain's new and selected fiction an inevitability. Attia's two worlds the Lucknow she grew up in and the London she later lived and worked in intersect and mesh in the stories and novel excerpts presented here reflecting her deep and abiding concern with those caught in the cleft stick of history and how they come to terms with it. The distinctive quality of her prose subtle, elegant, with an uncanny ear for dialogue and sharp, yet sympathetic observation is displayed to stunning effect as she delineates the tension and pathos of lives and societies in transition. A feast of fiction.