Author(s): Alexander McCall Smith

Fiction

Imagine you're on a train. Think about all the other people on the train with you, what their lives are or have been, and the different experiences you've all had. But there is one more thing that you undoubtedly all share: you have all been in love at one time or another. In this surprising and poignant story, four strangers meet on a journey from Edinburgh to London. Each has a tale of love and of railways: for Mark, a brief encounter on a railway platform leads to an impulsive and possibly dangerous decision; Kay recounts the long journey back to her childhood home in Australia and the love that was there; David remembers a teenage friendship that faded into love; and Michael makes a discovery that art and people may not be what they seem to be at first glance. These are very different experiences, but throughout them all runs a deep current of love. And loving others, as one of the characters observes, is the good thing we do in our lives.