A collection of fifty-four short stories by a prize-winning novelist inspired by family connections and travels across the world. Some are set firmly in the real world: an elderly English spinster living with a grumpy sister reveals a long-kept secret when her American son gets in touch; a shy wife discovers she's more attractive than she had ever imagined when her husband's old friend turns up; a sexist professor learns the cruel truth on overhearing his latest 'conquest' talking to her friend in a cafe. Magic invades realism in 'The Red Chevy', when an old lady in a Texan care home relives her past until she escapes back into it. The writer's personal experience of an earthquake in China inspired 'The Old Grandmother' in which a grandfather and granddaughter make a pilgrimage up Tai Shan mountain to the Buddhist temple on the summit. Although the stories span different genres, they share a common humanity from across the globe.