Life is an operetta and other short stories

The title story illustrates beautifully Ustinov's ability to weave pointed observations into his fiction. "Life Is an Operetta", features a young Hungarian woman, Mitzi, who is obsessed with the stage but poor at choosing lovers - so much so that the one man who can provide her with security and support is the one who is always left behind. Readers are offered a tour of many interesting locales and an education in various cultural traditions as the settings of the stories range from Spain through Switzerland, France, Hungary, and Italy, to England, America, and the Australia of "Billiwoonga". Ustinov's characters are equally varied in personality and social status. In "Dreams of Papua" we are given a glimpse into the rather ordinary personalities of a fictional president of the United States and his Soviet counterpart during the Cold War. In "The Swiss Watch" the loneliness of an Italian maid living far from home and her affection for her good-for-nothing nephews are touchingly portrayed.