Eli is an ordinary boy with an extraordinary gift. It will shape the course of his whole life. Cousin Francesca, a charming spinster and a favourite with the children, is harbouring kleptomaniac tendencies. Sarah Palliser, living alone next to a ramshackle graveyard, is more scared of the small box under her stairs than the ghosts outside her window. Dreamy artist Nan is nursing a growing obsession with wolves in Britain and the recently widowed Frances finds herself inventing an exotic imaginary boyfriend. In this collection of 11 remarkable stories, Salley Vickers explores bereavement and betrayal, closely guarded secrets and common gossip, long-overdue endings and decidedly strange beginnings.