In four long, charged short novels, Doris Lessing explores human hopes, dreams, obsessions, and shortcomings. A young soldier is sent to India during World War II. After a brief, passionate encounter with a married woman, he carries the memory of a breathtaking love for the rest of his life, becoming unable to live in the present. Two friends begin relationships with each other's teenage sons, and only after several years are they able to break away from them. One day, long after, everything is revealed. The downfall of a civilization thousands of years ago draws eerie parallels to our own time. A young Black woman has a child with a young white man. It is only when thoughts of her daughter's future begin to torment her that she seeks him out, and she is forced to make the sacrifice of giving up her own child. Doris Lessing once again demonstrates her profound understanding of humanity, her wide-ranging scope, and her ability to bring people and environments to life.
Doris Lessing Knihy
