The Amazon # 1 best-seller, this is a collection of short stories, travel-writing, reviews, excerpts and articles. In 'The Book' a woman on a station platform has her life changed by the gift of a strangely powerful book. 'Baseball for Beginners' attempts to understand the subtleties of this nuanced game. In 'Many Rooms' three strangers who inhabit an inner city square find they have more in common than they think. 'Grave Secrets' explores the buried lives, hopes and dreams of the dead. In 'Open Day' the pinkest, fluffiest, most innocuous old lady at the old folks' home surprises everyone, including the Mayor. 'The Peach Side of Apricot' recalls a conversation overheard on a bus.