In ‘The Waves’, a young man falls dangerously in love with his tenant downstairs who is about to get married; in ‘The Signorina’, a woman, disillusioned with her suitor’s inability to declare his feelings, is prompted to make a rash decision that she will regret for ever; in ‘A Friend of the Wives’, a wedding organizer, the unattainably beautiful Pia, leaves a trail of destruction among her closest friends.

In this collection of stories - Pirandello’s first published work of fiction - the master of Italian modernism dissects the causes and the effects of passions that are either dimly felt or unrequited, ultimately raising doubts about the very nature and existence of love, while foreshadowing at the same time the themes and the psychologically nuanced characters that he will later develop in his more famous works.