The western world is growing old and as the 'silver' readership increases the octogenarian - though sprightly - Emyr Humphreys has written six long stories for and about the elderly.

Humphreys' generation has seen at least one World War, a Cold War, a global economic depression, the end of the great national empires - and communism - and huge technological advances. It is also the generation which saw universal enfranchisement and became actively engaged, politically.

In these stories Humphreys explores change: political, social and physical, and its effects on the individual and society. The stories also represent an exploration of what the experience of age can offer the twenty-first century, and how that century can accommodate the old and their ideas. They range across such issues as asylum-seeking, cultural nationalism in Wales and political nationalism in Europe. All of which sounds abstract and theoretical, whereas the stories are written in Humphreys' engaging, inclusive style. The narrative is accessible to the general reader but has challenging and thought-provoking undercurrents which give the writing the gravitas we expect from this author. This is the fourth Humphreys original that Seren has published (the eighth title in all) and the best yet.

Emyr Humphreys is the author of twenty novels in English and Welsh, and has also published collections of stories and poetry. He has written screenplays and adapted other works for television and radio, in addition to producing and directing in both of those media. His novels have won the Arts Council of Wales Book of the Year, Hawthornden and other prizes.