Short Circuits

Marita van der Vyver is perhaps best known to her may admirers for her sharp, humorous observations of home ground. But here she explores, in a series of interrelated stories, the urge to be elsewhere. If ultimately, elsewhere leads back home, the traveller at least returns with refreshed insight and deeper perspective. In a collection as varied as the destinations it describes - London, Paris, Washington, New York, the Seychelles, Egypt - the mood varies from pathos to comedy; and in the final story, the tragedy of a child's illness and death is unforgettably recreated.