The stories in Julian Barnes` long-awaited third collection are attuned to rhythms and currents: of the body, of love and sex, illness and death, connections and conversations. A divorcee falls in love with a mysterious European waitress; a widower relives a favourite holiday; two writers rehearse familiar arguments; a couple bond, fall out and bond again over flowers and vegetable patches. And at a series of evenings at `Phil & Joanna`s`, the topics of conversation range from the environment to the Britishness of marmalade, from toilet graffiti to smoking, as we witness the guests` lives in flux. Ranging from the domestic to the extraordinary, from the vineyards of Italy to the English seaside in winter, the stories in "Pulse" resonate and spark.