An after-dinner walk in the moonlight leads to a series of confessions of first loves, each one sentimental and romantic. That is until Jessop takes his turn and decries the very notion of love. He tells of a tragic affair between an old school friend and an innocent Sinhalese girl, and so introduces the central motif of these three stories--the incompatibility of East and West. Based on Woolf's own experiences in Ceylon, these tales provide a brilliant depiction of colonial life. A central figure in the Bloomsbury circle, Leonard Woolf (1880-1969) is perhaps best remembered for his marriage to Virginia, yet he produced some of the finest literary writings of his age.