Shocking, intimate, often
uncomfortably honest, these stories reaffirm Doris Lessing’s unequalled ability
to capture the truth of the human condition
In the title novel, two friends
fall in love with each other's teenage sons, and these passions last for years,
until the women end them, vowing a respectable old age. In Victoria
and the Staveneys, a young woman gives birth to a child of mixed
race and struggles with feelings of estrangement as her daughter gets drawn
into a world of white privilege. The Reason for It traces
the birth, faltering, and decline of an ancient culture, with enlightening
modern resonances. A Love Child features a
World War II soldier who believes he has fathered a love child during a
fleeting wartime romance and cannot be convinced otherwise.
