The essay examines "Love in a Blue Time", a collection of short stories that present situations and themes which also recur in "Intimacy", Kureishi's most important work. In particular, the story which is most similar to the novel is "Nightlight". In many of Kureishi's works in the end someone leaves or is about to leave; whereto we are not given to know. 'Leaving' could hint at the idea of a crucial moment of rebirth, when the past is finally left behind. Yet in Kureishi's works this is not the message.