Two short novels by the author of The Last Life.'A Simple Tale' tells the story of Maria Poniatowski: her childhood in the Ukraine; her incarceration in a Nazi prison camp in Poland; and her life as an emigrant, working as a domestic in Toronto. Maria is now old, but not yet retired; her sole client is the ancient, demanding Mrs Ellison. Maria reflects on all that has happened, on her relationship with her family, with Mrs Ellison, with the country she left behind and the country in which she lives. 'A Simple Tale' is a moving story of a life and a century.'The Hunters' is the tale of an American academic doing research one summer in London, and the odd and disconcerting relationship she (or he?–the narrator remains a nameless and ungendered voice) develops with her downstairs neighbour, Ridley Wandor. Messud vividly captures the sweltering ugliness of London in the summer, and the sinister aspects of its grimmer quarters. 'The Hunters' is a mysterious story–powerful, haunting and accomplished.