These stories examine what can happen when people leave their habitual environments and venture into uncharted territory, whether physically or in the mind. They may not journey far, and the ensuing displacements may be comparatively small, but the consequences are often unforeseen and considerable. In the title story, an elderly woman faces handing over her beloved house to her son and moving to an extension in the garden. In The Clinic, fourteen-year-old Madeleine must confront the place to which pregnancy has brought her, while his idea of A Nice Day Out doesn t quite live up to the expectations of the eager Mr. Whitby. Other stories concern marital discord, the nature of grief, the results of finding themselves on untested ground. Characters are displaced by discontentment, by distance, by deceit, by death. Some of them move on through their displacements. Some are reluctant to face what has happened to them. All are caught in situations that alter in some way the comfortable landscapes of familiarity.