In the thirteen stories that comprise Truth and Other Fictions, women take centre stage as they experience the slippery relationship between art and truth, not merely as an aesthetic concept but a reality in their lives. Art here is present in many forms and brought closely into the personal realm of the people involved with it: the paintings of Picasso, the photographs of Brassaï, the songs of Billie Holiday, the emotional impact of opera, the literature of Hemingway and Durrell, the intellect of Sontag. With each story we move closer to our own time, and into contemporary “twists” involving gourmet cooking and fine wine, the Internet, cosmetic surgery, and finally the Body Worlds exhibit where death itself is turned into a form of art. This is a book of engagement, emotional and intellectual at the same time–just as art should be.