Like EM Forster's controversial paean to homosexual love, Maurice, the short stories in this newly edited collection were not published during the author's lifetime. It is easy to see why: these sharp, funny, semi-farcical tales are sexually charged and gently subversive, managing to be both subtle and explicit in their treatment of homosexual encounters. The class divide  familiar Forster territory  is another preoccupation, but these stories are so balanced and well constructed that he manages to avoid any charge of social crusading.

The title story has a comic twist that sets the tone for the rest of the collection. "The Life to Come" begins as a parody of Conrad and descends into a satirical dissection of colonial missionary life and its attendant hypocrisies. Sexual hypocrisy is at the forefront of these stories, even more so than in the aforementioned Maurice, which tends in parts to be sentimental and earnest. The weird "Dr Woolacott", though an impressionistic and ghostly tale, interweaves a sense of unfulfilled sexual potential with postwar class politics.

These stories are diverse in setting and tone; the sexual undercurrent is the only constant. The cumulative effect is one of a mission statement, a celebration and defence of homosexuality that never overshadows the demands of good narrative and original prose. Exhibiting understatement and restraint while remaining lyrical, the writing always feels fresh and challenging.

When one character ponders the legal implications of his tryst with a new (male) lover, and asks, "What can it matter to anyone else if you and I don't mind?" the innocence of the question jars with the ironic fact that these tales' subject matter demanded posthumous publication. Anyone with an interest in homosexual writing should read this book, but more generally, this is an important, carefully selected collection that will hopefully enable these stories to find a new audience.