Claudia Hampton, a beautiful, famous writer, lies dying in hospital. But, as the nurses tend to her with quiet condescension, she is plotting her greatest work: a history of the world & in the process, my own`. Gradually she re-creates the rich mosaic of her life & times, conjuring up those she has known. There is Gordon, her adored brother; Jasper, the charming, untrustworthy lover & father of Lisa, her cool, conventional daughter; & Tom, her one great love, both found & lost in wartime Egypt. Penelope Lively`s Booker Prize-winning novel weaves an exquisite mesh of memories, flashbacks & shifting voices, in a haunting story of loss & desire.