Pulse

s:545:"The stories in Julian Barnes' long-awaited third collection are attuned to rhythms and currents : of the body, of love and sex, illness and death, connections and conversations. A divorcee falls in love with a mysterious European waitress; a widower relives a favourite holiday; two writers rehearse familiar arguments; a couple bond, fall out and bond again over flowers and vegetable patches. And at a series of evening at "Phil & Joanna's", the topics of conversation, from toilet graffiti to smoking, as we witness the guests' lives in flux.";