The Guiltless Bystander is the first collection of short stories by the award-winning novelist David Wheldon. Completed shortly before his death in 2021, they bear testament to the wit, warmth and variety of his writing. There is light and shade: some of these stories are just plain funny, while others are dark and inconclusive, recalling the subconscious worlds of Franz Kafka or Luis Buñuel. Ultimately, though, the contradictions inherent in these tales come to have an elusive rationality.