A superb collection of stories from a prize-winning writer - some short, some long, set in locations that span the globe, all exploring the theme encapsulated by the title: tenderness.Meet Sadie, the high-flying divorce lawyer who ends up putting marriages back together; the Ice Cream Girl, discovered in a superette and transplanted to Hollywood; the seven-year-old Prometheus, who faces death on a daily basis. With a mix of humour and compassion, each story carries the punch of a compacted novel, highlighting those illuminating moments of human connection.