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.