
Thirteen strangely wrought ingeniously crafted stories make up Nabokov's baker's dozen In some of these stories shadowy people pass through cooped up by life with nowhere to escape to Their dreams lie stifled smothered by routine & repetition & frustrations lurk in all the corners In others elusive glimpses of fleeting happiness which flutter away before they can be snatched waylay their victims Like the shimmer of the sea the gleam of a glass caught by the sun they sparkle brilliantly only to dissolve again