Mortal Coils

Mortal Coils is a collection of five short fictional pieces written by Aldous Huxley in 1921. &quote;The Gioconda Smile&quote; is a mixture of social satire and murder story, which Huxley later adapted into a film called A Woman's Vengeance (1948). &quote;Permutations Among the Nightingales&quote; is a play concerning the amorous problems encountered by various patrons of a hotel. &quote;The Tillotson Banquet&quote; tells of an old artist who was thought to be dead, and is &quote;rediscovered&quote;; a not entirely successful honorary dinner is organised for him. &quote;Green Tunnels&quote; is about the boredom of a young girl on holiday with her family. She develops a romantic fantasy, and is ultimately disillusioned. &quote;Nuns at Luncheon&quote; is a second-hand story told of a nun falling in love. The story mocks the writer's process, a concept Huxley used in his novel Crome Yellow.