A new collection of stories from A.S.Byatt is always a winner, and this one takes an unexpected turn, bringing shivers as well as delights. Leaves rustle underfoot in a dark wood: two middle-aged women walk into a forest, as they did when they were girls, confronting their fears and memories and the strange thing they saw in their childhood - or thought they saw - so long ago. A man meets the ghost of his living wife; a woman turns inexorably to stone. Little Black Book of Stories holds its secrets, adding a dark quality to Byatt"s famous skill in mixing folk and fairy tale with everyday life.