The 'People in Glass Houses' work for an American-based concern devoted to 'inflicting improvement' the world over.

Amongst them are sloppy but erudite Algie Wyatt, Swoboda, a Slav DP, who finally rebels against a daily inflow of documentation; modest Ashmole-Brown, whose surprise best-seller unseats Sadie Graine, the all-time corridor fixer; Jaspersen, who falls in and out of love with the Organization; and Clelia Kinslake, who meets the most critical non-crisis of her career in Crete.

Shirley Hazzard's eight dazzling stories are linked by a scorching contempt for the Organization.