In this book the author addresses the problem of growing old and the "warts of the soul" which, if gouged out, ruin the flesh.

We must wait, he says, for the evil in us to die naturally.

Presenting a peeled potato, a dance in the kitchen and a visit to the aged mother of a childhood friend, he considers our struggle, our efforts to achieve aesthetic perfection and suggests some resolutions.

Patrick White is a Nobel Prize-winning author. His novels include "The Tree of Man", "Voss", "The Vivisector", "A Fringe of Leaves", "The Twyborn Affair" and "Memoirs of Many in One".