A quiet disturbance lies at the heart of these stories in Polly Tuckett’s debut collection, shadowing our protagonists as they live through the complexities of the modern world. Renfrew finds love and loss while restoring a house in Italy as the world around him sinks into a glorious pageant of decline and decay, Edith battles her demons and isolation in the Alpen snows, and the cold and passionless hotelier Hortensia filters the world through her love for her cat and the tragedy of her...