A magical, mystical novella about the art and power of storytelling, this is Italo Calvino's miniature masterpiece. A group of travellers chance to meet, first in a castle, then in a tavern. Their powers of speech have been magically taken from them. Instead, they have only tarot cards with which to tell their tales. What follows is an exquisite interlinking of narratives, and a fantastic, surreal and chaotic history of all human consciousness. BRIEF ENCOUNTERS: classic novellas and captivating stories, to be read in a single sitting or savoured over days.