Engaged and entirely engaging, her acerbic wit tempered by grace and good humour, Holdstock writes about war; about the conundrum of being Canadian; about reading in all its forms and, centrally, about the vocation, vexations and triumphs of writing in a time when the lessons of the past seem to have been lost. At the heart of this collection is Holdstock the writer, animating us in discussions about the creative process while assessing the actions and images of writing, politics, film, travel and art.