Love-letters are not Receipts

That's life – things begin innocently enough only to become complicated rather quickly. Take this jacket, not exactly a bargain, but it did fit rather nicely. And suddenly it's not on the rack any more but in our narrator's home. What happened? Did she steal it? Find it? Was it given to her as a present? And why do jackets seem to be accumulating around here?

Brigitte Schär's short stories are masterly showcases for the improbable, the arresting and the grotesque. Come breakfast time, for example, there's a rat sitting in the bread bin. This unpleasant experience marks the beginning of a strange friendship. As strange, in fact, as the passion for music that overwhelms the young man whose piano is always locked, driving him to marriage and, finally, to a desperate crime.

Extravagant, entertaining and witty, these stories pay scant heed to common sense, but startle the reader, time and again, with their interplay of fantastic ideas.