Dark, unnerving, and wickedly funny, Patrick McGrath’s acclaimed short stories deal in the bizarre, the erotic, and the unexpected. A failed writer meets an ageing gin-queen who claims he was once visited by an angel; a little girl finds a delirious, dying explorer from the Congo at the bottom of her back garden; a nightclub is terrorized by a strange libidinous hand; and a young Victorian lady sails to India to find her fiancé Cecil horribly transformed... "An imaginative collection... Opening with the unforgettable "Angel", McGrath's accessibility and flair for the absurd provide us with a palatable blend of humour and creepiness."