Mark Haddon, author of international bestseller "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time," returns with a collection of unsparing short stories. The collection achieves a sum that is greater than its parts, proving itself a meditation not only on isolation and loneliness but also on the tenuous and unseen connections that link individuals to each other, often despite themselves. Cut with lean prose and drawing inventively from history, myth, fairy tales and, above all, the deep well of empathy that made his three novels so compelling, This reveals a previously unseen side of the celebrated author.