In France, Mattie feels 20 again. In Poland, Magda revisits her impoverished family. In Uzbekistan, Diana lets a fellow tourist kiss her. In Germany, Lynn loses her luggage on the Düsseldorf train. The Hopeful Traveller is a collection of short stories about—and told by—single women who have put the past behind them but are still looking for their anchor in the present. It includes bitter—sweet accounts of the freedoms of postwar life, of foreign travel, of the rekindling of old friendships and of the search for new ones. The stories speak of cosmopolitan, self—confident, well—heeled characters, in an era just before the birth of feminism, conventional in their expectations of men, always just a step away from displacement and alienation. Set variously in Paris, Kalisz, Samarkand, Hong Kong, Melbourne, Erfurt, Singapore and London, these stories, from a much—admired veteran writer, offer a teasing mix of realism and fantasy, wish—fulfilment and regret. Some of these stories have appeared in translation in overseas annuals and collections.