Carol Ann Duffy dramatises scenes from childhood, adolescence and adulthood, finding moments of grace or consolation in memory, love and language amid the complexities of life. These are powerful poems of loss, betrayal and desire. By turns funny, sad, cruel, and uplifting, these stories explore how the turn of the millennium impacts on the life of the individual. These poetms are firmly rooted in human nature. For all the technological elements that invade our lives, many of the characters here still resort to the traditional urges and instincts central to the best crime fiction: greed, foolishness, weekness.