Come on in. Do you like mango chutney? I myself have never had mango chutney, not liking mangos, but Phil’s an expert on making the stuff. It never lasts, but make sure you use green mangos because the old ones are too stringy.

That nothing lasts forever is a theme that runs through Thomas Shapcott’s book of short stories. What you have when you are young is not necessarily something you will have when you get older and what you consume is only borrowed, for you cannot take it with you.

This collection is divided into three sections: What You Have, What You Leave, and What You Own. As with his earlier novel, The Search for Galina, Shapcott is here obsessed with the past.