In this collectio of 15 stories, Ekwensi brings together glimpses of city life, love and death. In addition, he captures the tragic, commercial and spiritual aspects of Christmas in two West African cities. This collection ranges in time from the pre-independence Africa of the 1950s to the independent Africa of the 1960s and '70s. Avid readers of Ekwensi's writing will be able to recognise in some of this earlier collection of stories the genesis of later novels and novellas that were published in the famous African Writers Series.