"Here are vibrant, engrossing stories with evocative titles: ""Red Gladioli"", ""City of Angels"", ""Shenandoah River"", ""Arohanui"". Caren Wilton is funny and modern. Her characters find themselves in unfamiliar landscapes: sometimes physical - a Bangkok flat, a youth hostel in Edinburgh, a Wellington massage parlor - and sometimes emotional. Wherever they are, she takes a vivid, compassionate look at human strengths and vulnerabilities and people's skewed attempts to find happiness.".