Learning by Heart: Short Stories

These 10 gentle tales about uncertain young people and eccentric aging ones take place in London, its suburbs and remote corners of Scotland. The title story is an autobiographical account of the author's childhood in rural Scotland interwoven with an imagined chronicle of her stepmother's young life. The narrator's stern parents insist that she keep a list of her Christmas gifts: ""All exclamations of joy were cut short by the command, `Write it down. Write it down.' '' Her stepmother's photograph collection includes more pictures of Bran, her ``moody, greedy, erratic and irascible'' dog than of her father. Livesey's pieces are simple and engaging, but the intense emotional subtext may have less significance for her audience than for the author. (May)