The last of the three trilogies authored by David Stacton (1923-68) was described by the author as 'an intermezzo designed to deal with sexual relations'. After Old Acquaintance (1962) and Sir William (1963) came Kaliyuga (1965), described by Stacton as 'the story of the relations of Siva and Kali, lightly told'.

Its chief figures are Charlie and Denise, an American couple in Switzerland, prone to domestic spats. After one such set-to Charlie finds himself wishing men were gods, so to be spared the banality of life's cyclical little dramas. But he knows not of what he speaks or wants. In Hindu mythology the gods go round and round as we do, making the same mistakes - as Charlie and Denise will discover.