Three short stories: a writer gives a lecture in a provincial town and encounters a figure from his past; two elderly siblings discover their sister's weird secret; and an elderly brother and sister find themselves tormented in turn by loneliness and the desire to be left alone.

In 'Nanny', Professor Campbell Forsythe gives his lecture on metamorphosis in the dull little town of Ditcham, where events from his past come back unexpectedly to alter him forever.

In 'Radio Gannet', Norma chances across a strange pirate radio station, only to realise that the voice issuing from the speakers belongs to none other than her elderly, ramshackle sister Dolly.

'The Lower Loxley Effect' explores the importance of family: the strangers with whom you share your inheritance and your future.

Part of the Storycuts series, these three stories were previously published in the collection The Atmospheric Railway.