1. "True Short Story" A discussion between two men in a cafe discussing the relative merits of novels and short stories is overheard. The narrator (named Ali) rings a friend and continues the argument quoting the views of various authors and the story of Echo
   Echo (mythology)
   In Greek mythology, Ekho , "echo", itself from ἦχος , "sound") was an Oread who loved her own voice. Zeus loved consorting with beautiful nymphs and visited them on Earth often. Eventually, Zeus's wife, Hera, became suspicious, and came from Mt...
   
    and Narcissus
   Narcissus (mythology)
   Narcissus or Narkissos , possibly derived from ναρκη meaning "sleep, numbness," in Greek mythology was a hunter from the territory of Thespiae in Boeotia who was renowned for his beauty. He was exceptionally proud, in that he disdained those who loved him...
   
    from Greek mythology.
2. "The Child" (online text) A beautiful baby appears in the narrators shopping trolley
   Shopping Trolley
   "Shopping Trolley" was a 2006 single by English songwriter Beth Orton. It was released as a 2 CD single set and 12 inch vinyl , and an early version of the title song can be purchased from iTunes.-CD: EMI / CDEMS 694 United Kingdom :# "Shopping Trolley"...
   
   ; seemingly innocent it turns to be a foul-mouthed misogynist.
3. "Present" (online text from The Times
   The Times
   The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
   
   24 Dec 2005) A disjointed conversation between a barmaid, a man at the bar and the narrator
4. "The Third Person" which describes differing 'beguiling scenarios' for a relationship
5. "Fidelio and Bess" Beethoven's opera Fidelio
   Fidelio
   Fidelio is a German opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is Beethoven's only opera. The German libretto is by Joseph Sonnleithner from the French of Jean-Nicolas Bouilly which had been used for the 1798 opera Léonore, ou L’amour conjugal by Pierre Gaveaux, and for the 1804 opera Leonora...
   
   and George Gershwin
   George Gershwin
   George Gershwin was an American composer and pianist. Gershwin's compositions spanned both popular and classical genres, and his most popular melodies are widely known...
   
   's Porgy and Bess
   Porgy and Bess
   Porgy and Bess is an opera, first performed in 1935, with music by George Gershwin, libretto by DuBose Heyward, and lyrics by Ira Gershwin and DuBose Heyward. It was based on DuBose Heyward's novel Porgy and subsequent play of the same title, which he co-wrote with his wife Dorothy Heyward...
   
   are blended together to describe an apparently doomed love affair between two women
6. "The History of History" (online text) in which a schoolgirl struggles to do her history homework while her mother has a nervous breakdown
7. "No Exit" The narrator watches a woman leave a cinema auditorium via the fire escape and become apparently trapped in the stairwell
8. "The Second Person" Two lovers disagree after describing each others personalties with made-up short stories, one concerning the purchase of an accordion
   Accordion
   The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
   
   , the other the delivery of a pretentious discourse on Ella Fitzgerald
   Ella Fitzgerald
   Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
   
   's rendition of "A-Tisket, A-Tasket
   A-Tisket, A-Tasket
   A Tisket A Tasket is a nursery rhyme first recorded in America in the late nineteenth century. It was used as the basis for a very successful and highly regarded 1938 recording by Ella Fitzgerald...
   
   "
9. "I Know Something You Don't Know" A boy's mysterious illness causes his mother to ring two healers from the Yellow Pages
   Yellow Pages
   Yellow Pages refers to a telephone directory of businesses, organized by category, rather than alphabetically by business name and in which advertising is sold. As the name suggests, such directories were originally printed on yellow paper, as opposed to white pages for non-commercial listings...
   
   
10. "Writ" A middle-aged woman meets her fourteen-year old self and struggles to communicate with her
11. "Astute Fiery Luxurious" (online text from The Guardian
    The Guardian
    The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
    
    ) A suspect package arrives at a couples house and a series of multiple endings describe its disposal
12. "The First Person" In which two lovers claim each is describing the other's reality.

External links

• Reviewed by Katy Guest in The Independent
  The Independent
  The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
  
  
• A brilliant collection of stories from magical Ali review from The Independent
  The Independent
  The Independent is a British national morning newspaper published in London by Independent Print Limited, owned by Alexander Lebedev since 2010. It is nicknamed the Indy, while the Sunday edition, The Independent on Sunday, is the Sindy. Launched in 1986, it is one of the youngest UK national daily...
  
  
• Unhappy Together review from The New York Times
  The New York Times
  The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...
  
  
• An ear for speech review from The Guardian
  The Guardian
  The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
  
  
• Are your books good in bed? review from The Guardian
• Claudia FitzHerbert is enchanted by a set of slippery stories in which language is always ready to lead you astray review from The Telegraph
  The Daily Telegraph
  The Daily Telegraph is a daily morning broadsheet newspaper distributed throughout the United Kingdom and internationally. The newspaper was founded by Arthur B...
  
  
• The Sunday Times review