The sound of the wind rustling in the leaves is the ritornelo that runs through these stories. It whispers of life and death, of the inexorable passing of time and of a life’s settlements, but also of the sensuality of bodies and the enigmas of desire. This musical motif accompanies the slow movement of two old people who face the crueltyof a young woman of insulting beauty, approaching the revolving door of an old café, where boys and girls enter;or a man who observes and analyses the secret beauty of a woman while another woman announces her impending death to her life-long friends. Literature to read slowly, to savour and enjoy, to pay attention to that which is said and lived and vice-versa; literature to accompany our lives with the power of words, which some will say, and others will refuse to speak.