“An Intermediate Stop”
Godwin herself provides a succinct summary of this story which actually was written in response to a writing class assignment. The story, she asserts is rather simple: a vicar writes a book about his experience of actually seeing God, but ironically only arrives a life-altering divine epiphany as a result of going on the lecture tour in America to boost sales.
“Some Side Effects of Time Travel”
A doctoral candidate name Gretchen meets legendary writer Jorge Luis Borges whose advice on living a life not tethered to time coincides with that of her grandmother. In fact, quite a bit of Gretchen’s world seems to be giving her the same advice.
“Nobody’s Home”
Mrs. Wakely finally cannot escape confessing to herself that her marriage is a failure and a prison and so makes plans to move into an apartment across the way. Excitement turns to distress when the bigger picture of escape starts to iris down in focus to the mundane details and she loses nerve. Instead, she remains at home in physical form only, retreating into her recurring fantasy which will likely never become reality.
“My Lover, His Summer Vacation”
A story about perspective. A husband and wife go off on vacation with their family. Simple enough. Except that the details and meaning of this getaway is seen from two quite different conflicting viewpoints: that of the husband and that of the woman with whom he is cheating on his wife.
“The Legacy of the Motes”
A metaphysical story about a metaphysical poet with just a touch of Greek tragedy ironically adding to the mix. Eliot is the poet, a condition known as flying flies are the motes affecting his vision and the Furies winding up as agents of fate in a positive way is the irony.
“False Lights”
Letters are exchanged between Violet and Annette. Violet is married to famous novelist Karl while Annette is his older ex-wife. Vi0let’s reaching out to the former wife is situated within a framework of utopian idealism in which she questions the existential meaning of marriage and wonders whether it will even exist in a century. Annette is strongly resistant and persistently rejects the young woman’s offer. It should be noted that Karl is a writer with a strong utopian streak.
“Amanuensis”
A young woman named Jesse becomes the title character—an assistant, basically—Constance Le Fevre, a successful novelist. Constance is facing not just writer’s block, but a crisis of creativity and Jesse appears to be just the ticket. The twist at the end is that Jesse turns out actually to be the amanuensis for another writer who arranged for the young woman to compile material for his own story.
“St. John”
Another class of writer has another kind of strange interlude another type stranger. Charles St. John has an unlisted phone number which nevertheless rings with a stranger on the other end. It is an unknown woman happens to share the same last name and so the story commences as a strange story of take on the familiar doppelganger theme.
“The Angry Year”
Jane Lewis is yet another writer from found in the same collection as Constance and Charles, but she differs from the primarily because her doppelganger is herself. She is both a student actively pursuing the sorority life and a campus newspaper columnist who launches virulent attacks upon the sorority lifestyle.
