The Lilac Bowl, Melanie Wyllie's third collection of short stories, is set in post-war Britain as it moves out of drab austerity into a new era of cosmopolitan affluence. With characteristic wit, imagination and empathy, Melanie Wyllie depicts a set of characters as diverse as the range of situations in which they find themselves. Some are caught up in the pursuit of better things ('Snare', 'Charmed', 'A Trip to the Moon', 'The Lilac Bowl'), some are haunted by the past ('But for the Grace of God', 'Shadows'), and some are trapped in an endless present ('Toccata', 'Heartburn', 'Griffin'). All of them are distinctive -- for their ambition, frustration, nostalgia, solitude, and romance -- as they each face the consequences of their own quiet choices