‘Because this is the best of all possible worlds, and couldn’t possibly be better?’ he asked her retreating back. Shona turned round quickly, smiling with surprise, but saw that Pam had taken her place on the seat and already engaged Dermot in some cheerful banter. She surreptitiously checked whether the quote was printed obviously on the back of her volume. It wasn’t. He didn’t speak French, but he knew Voltaire. She was oddly touched that he had read the book that she was re-reading; it was an unexpected, not unpleasant, expression of empathy. It had not occurred to her before how much Dermot and she might have in common. Perhaps it wasn’t such a bad thing that Dermot had joined the school. Perhaps they might even become friends.

‘Dans ce meilleur des mondes possibles … tout est au mieux,’ she said to herself. In this, the best of all possible worlds, all is for the best.

The Academic Pursuits of Omar Khan

wHEN OMAR STARTED university, he was swept into his turret room in the Holywell Quad of New College on the crest of a wave of familial happiness that was so powerful it practically carried him up the winding stairs. His manly, capable father brought up the heavy cases that Omar would never have been able to manage himself, and his mother plugged in the kettle and looked tearfully out of his window at the grey-green quad, the elegant chapel at odds with the substantial stones of the thirteenth-century walls. While Omar unpacked and his parents sat on the bed and drank tea, a couple of second year students wandered up to his room to give him the invitation to PPE drinks that evening.

‘Well, that’s nice, darling, isn’t it?’ said Shona. ‘You’ll meet everyone on your course tonight. You make new friends so quickly at college,’ she added wistfully. Omar nodded cheerfully, giving away nothing but enthusiasm for this new adventure.