"Covering the entire arc of Couto's career, this collection displays the Mozambican author's inventiveness, sensitivity, and social range with greater richness than any previous collection, including early stories that reflect the harshness of life under Portuguese colonialism; magical tales of rural Africa; and contemporary fables of the slipperiness of race and gender, environmental disaster and the clash between the countryside and the city. The title novella, long acclaimed as one of Couto's best works but never before made available in English, caps this collection with the lyrical story of a search for a lost father that leads to unexpected love."--Provided by publisher.