Collected together for the first time, VG Lee's short stories show the trademark humour and pathos that have attracted a cult following for her novels. Here are inconsiderate aunties, cheerfully selfish friends and a man with a pimple fixation. But the short form also brings out the author's darker side, as she captures the mother who destroys her own daughter and the downtrodden lover who seeks a deathly revenge. If you like your sapphic scandal with a slice of Battenburg, this is the book for you. 'I thought I barged in noisily. If I did, they didn't hear me. How foolish they were in any case - in front of the kitchen window in broad daylight - but then perhaps I'm the fool to imagine that would matter to them. I didn't understand at first. I thought Jean was comforting Whiz, or Whiz was comforting Jean, and then I saw that Whiz's blouse was undone, her white brassiere pulled down on one side, so that her breast was exposed and Jean's hand was cupping it, as if holding something precious.'