Jane Gardam reveals again her brilliant diversity and deep understanding of the human condition. In 'Light', an evocative, lyrical piece of magic realism, a beautiful Himalayan girl defies the destiny laid out for her by her mother but in so doing destroys the village in which she was born. In 'Missing the Midnight', a young woman, having failed her exams and lost the man she loves, journeys home on Christmas Eve to the family she despises. In 'Grace' an apparently ordinary man lives his whole life with a diamond under his skin at the back of his neck and dies when it is finally removed.