“Quantum of Solace” is one of the of For Your Eyes Only, collection of five James Bond short stories by Ian Fleming.

Plot summary: “Quantum of Solace” is not a spy story, and Bond appears only in the background. Told in the style of W Somerset Maugham, the tale has Bond attending a boring dinner party at the Government House in Nassau with a group of socialites he cannot stand.

After dinner when the other guests have left, Bond listens as the Governor of The Bahamas tells him a sad tale about a relationship between a former civil servant stationed in Bermuda, Philip Masters, and an air hostess, Rhoda Llewellyn. After meeting aboard a flight to London the two eventually married, but after a time Rhoda became unhappy with her life as a housewife. She then began a long open affair with the eldest son of a rich Bermudan family; as a result Masters’s work deteriorated and he suffered a nervous breakdown. After recovering, the governor gave him a break from Bermuda and sent him on an assignment to Washington to negotiate fishing rights with the United States. At the same time, the governor’s wife had a talk with Rhoda just as her affair ended. Masters returns a few months later and decided to end their marriage, although he and Rhoda continued to appear as a happy couple in public for the sake of his job. Masters returned alone to the United Kingdom, leaving a penniless Rhoda stranded in Bermuda.

While the story does not include action as other Fleming tales do, the ending shows Bond that his adventures pale in comparison with the real-life drama and he comes to understand that even the lives of people he cannot stand hide poignant episodes.