Sharp reportage joins lyrical and metaphorical explorations of the human condition to create a world of its own, always tinted with the most refined sense of humor, no matter what the subject of these 21 stories.

Seamus, alias Twist, is on the Eurostar train from Paris to London to see his twin brother for a birthday lunch. He tells us the story of his love affair with Elska, the captivating Finnish wife of his American friend, Flyte. The lyricism of his account is inspired by his late father, an Irish poet. Twist has sold one of his father's poems to an American record producer, so financing his boulevardier lifestyle and residence at the Alabama Hotel on the Left Bank. It's a geometrical tale. A love triangle. Twist looking through the two circles of 300, the speed of the train in kph. And his...