The collected stories - Paul Theroux

'No one ever sees me write. One of the triumphs of fiction is that it is created in the dark. It leaves my house in a plain wrapper, with no bloodstains. Unlike me, my stories are whole and indestructible.'
Theroux's canvas stretches from London to South-East Asia, Boston to Paris, Africa to Eastern Europe, Moscow to the tropics. He portrays colonials, emigres, diplomats, students, would-be writers, academics and children. Full of suspense and the unexpected, this collection shows Theroux asa master of the form.