Martha Gellhorns three intertwined novellas are concerned with the integration of European outsiders into the dramatic landscape of East Africa It makes an electric theme which alternates between enchantment and rejection Two sisters one beautiful one plain return unmarried from their adventures in the great world to their parents hotel On the Mountain where they are caught up in scandalous relationships A heartbroken woman tries to escape the memory of her sons death on a doomed holiday By the Sea A lonely awkward young Englishman orphaned by bombs in London disoriented by years as a prisonerofwar seeks a new life In the Highlands