Anthologies featuring bestselling authors alongside rising stars. Short story collections from some of our beloved authors with Roald Dahl, Raymond Carver and Anita Desai among the better known
Anthologies & Short Stories
Austin Macauley Publishers The Silent Women
Book Synopsis
£8.54
Austin Macauley Publishers If It Is Turtledove to Water Back
Book Synopsis
£10.79
Austin Macauley Publishers A Question and Other Stories
Book Synopsis
£10.66
Austin Macauley Publishers A Bigots Guide to Salvation
Book Synopsis
£9.49
Austin Macauley Publishers A Visitation and Other Stories
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£12.30
Austin Macauley Publishers The Price of my Daughters Shoes
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£999.99
Austin Macauley Publishers A Book of Stories
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£999.99
Austin Macauley Publishers Short Life and Other Stories
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£7.59
Austin Macauley Publishers The Boy Who Had Nothing
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£6.99
Austin Macauley Publishers Seagulls Shadows on Slantyrock
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£10.44
Austin Macauley Publishers Good Grazing and Other Stories
Book Synopsis
£7.59
Austin Macauley Publishers Nothing the Fists Cant Fix and Other Stories
a huge range and FREE tracked UK delivery on ALL orders.
£999.99
Austin Macauley Publishers Dare to Dream Trilogy
£12.59
Austin Macauley Publishers Pegasus for Hire
£7.59
Tantallon Tir 274 Miles
Book Synopsis
£11.40
WW Norton & Co American Estrangement
Book SynopsisStories that capture our times by a young author who has already established himself as a unique American voice (Elle)Trade Review"[An] excellent new collection…[Sayrafiezadeh] writes with a veteran’s swagger and discipline…[T]he collection joins a list that includes Leonard Michaels’s “I Would Have Saved Them if I Could,” Lorrie Moore’s “Like Life” and Charles D’Ambrosio’s “The Dead Fish Museum” as a second book of stories that exceeds and expands upon the promise of the first, confirming the writer as a major, committed practitioner of a difficult form." -- Andrew Martin - The New York Times Book Review"A dark and exhilarating collection." -- David L. Ulin - The Los Angeles Times"Skillful and controlled…[The stories in American Estrangement] speak, at times quite powerfully, to an overriding feeling of cultural and personal loneliness." -- Sam Sacks - The Wall Street Journal"[A] stellar new collection… Sayrafiezadeh is a master… His prose has a rhythm that is startlingly original and an intense quirkiness that catches you unaware." -- Elaine Margolin - Los Angeles Review of Books
£12.34
John Inserra Jr Hope Brings Life 1
Book Synopsis
£7.44
Simon & Schuster Ltd Rainbow Rainbow
Book SynopsisA collection of stories that celebrate the humour, darkness and depth of emotion of the queer and trans experience that’s not typically represented: liminal or uncertain identities, queer conception and queer joy. In this delightful debut collection of prize-wining stories, queer, gender-nonconforming and trans characters struggle to find love and forgiveness, despite their sometimes comic, sometimes tragic mistakes. In one story, a young lesbian tries to have a baby with her lover using an unprofessional sperm donor and a high-powered, rainbow-coloured cocktail. In another, a fifth-grader explores gender identity by dressing as an ox – instead of a matriarch – for a class Oregon Trail reenactment. Meanwhile a nonbinary person on the eve of top surgery dangerously experiments with an open relationship during the height of the COVID crisis. With insight and compassion, debut author Lydia Conklin takes their readers to a meeting of a qu
£9.49
Arcturus Publishing Ltd Sherlock Holmes A Gripping Casebook of Stories
Book SynopsisThis handsome hardback compendium brings together some of Sherlock Holmes'' best cases, presented with a deluxe gold-embossed cover design with gilded page edges. Arthur Conan Doyle''s remarkable detective stories have delighted readers for over a century. This collection features the full-length novel A Study in Scarlet alongside 14 short stories, selected and introduced by award-winning crime writer Martin Edwards. These masterfully plotted mysteries perfectly capture the cosy charm of Victorian London and showcase the formidable deductive powers of Sherlock Holmes at his best. Includes: • A Scandal in Bohemia • The Adventure of the Beryl Coronet • The Greek Interpreter • The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle • The Boscombe Valley Mystery With original pen and ink illustrations by George Wylie Hutchinson, this foil-stamped volume with gilded page edges makes th
£16.99
John Murray Press Guilt
Book SynopsisFrom the internationally bestselling author and 'one of the most distinctive voices in European literature' (Daily Telegraph), another thrilling collection of crime storiesTrade ReviewPraise for Ferdinand von Schirach * - *Ice-cool, effortlessly classy prose * Observer *Tantalising and disturbing in equal measure -- Laura Wilson * Guardian *An exceptional prose stylist * New York Times *A magnificent storyteller * Der Spiegel *Psychologically raw . . . delivered in a crisp translation by Katharina Hall, his unfussy prose is icily effective . . . it suggests that all justice systems are flawed, that they are all just processes. And, with immense empathy, von Schirach's stories show what happens to people when they are processed. -- Christian House * Financial Times *The stories are cool, meticulously crafted, pithy and mordantly amusing . . . this is an unsettling, affecting, extremely powerful book. Highly recommended -- Declan Hughes * Irish Times *An impressive page-turner with substance and bite * Bookmunch *Thrilling and edgy, often carrying a twist in the tale -- To the Ends of the Word blog
£9.49
Penguin Books Ltd Trickery
Book SynopsisPERFECT for fans of Roald Dahl.Think you know Dahl? Think again. There''s still a whole world of Dahl to discover in a newly collected book of his deliciously dark tales for adults . . . How underhand could you be to get what you want? In these ten tales of dark and twisted trickery Roald Dahl reveals that we are at our smartest and most cunning when we set out to deceive others - and, sometimes, even ourselves.Here, among others, you''ll read of the married couple and the parting gift which rocks their marriage, the light fingered hitch-hiker and the grateful motorist, and discover why the serious poacher keeps a few sleeping pills in his arsenal.Featuring extraordinary cover art by Charming Baker, whose paintings echo the dark and twisted world of Dahl''s short stories. Roald Dahl reveals even more about the darker side of human nature in seven other centenary editions: Lust, Madness, Cruelty, Deception, War, Innocence Trade ReviewThere's a whole world of Dahl still to discover in a newly collected book of his deliciously dark tales for adults . . . How underhand could you be to get what you want? In these ten tales of dark and twisted trickery Roald Dahl reveals that we are at our smartest and most cunning when we set out to deceive others - and, sometimes, even ourselves. * From the publisher's description *Trickery, is the most Dahlian of the lot . . . joyously anarchic stuff, the sort of adventure you hope adult life will be full of when you're a child -- James Marriott * The Times *The titles are wonderfully unsettling guide to the beloved children's author's preoccupations -- James Marriott * The Times *
£10.44
BBC Audio, A Division Of Random House Garden Party The Other Stories
Book SynopsisMaeve Binchy is one of Britain's most popular and bestselling authors, and this collection of four stories from the BBC Radio 4 archive shows her at her most insightful and imaginative. In The Garden Party, Helen envies her neighbour Debbie Kennedy's garden and her life but discovers that things are not always as they seem; while The Special Sale sees lonely Yvonne arranging a special lunch for her friend Frank and his children on the day after Christmas. The Sensible Celebration finds Lorna about to throw a small party to celebrate the decade gone by: but as she plans, she starts to think about her life, and her marriage. Finally, in Dolly's Mother, the beauty, grace and efficiency of her perfect parent have always made Dolly feel inferior until the day of her sixteenth birthday. These four stories, never collected together in book form and unique to audio, are read by acclaimed actors Niamh Cusack, Dervla Kirwan, Doreen Hepburn and Stella McCuske
£11.02
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC This is the Ritual
Book Synopsis''Doyle is as good as everyone from John Boyne to Colm Tóibín says he is'' Daily MailA young man in a dark depression roams the vast, formless landscape of a Dublin industrial park where he meets a vagrant in the grip of a dangerous ideology. A woman fleeing a break-up finds herself taking part in an unusual sleep experiment. A man obsessed with Nietzsche clings desperately to his girlfriend's red shoes. And whatever happened to Killian Turner, Ireland's vanished literary outlaw? Lost and isolated, the characters in these masterful stories play out their fragmented relationships in a series of European cities, always on the move; from rented room to darkened apartment, hitchhiker''s roadside to Barcelona nightclub. Rob Doyle, a shape-shifting drifter, a reclusive writer, also stalks the book''s pages. Layering narratives and splicing fiction with non-fiction, This is the Ritual tells of the ecstatic, the desperate and the uncertain. Immersive, at times dreamlikTrade ReviewI'm tempted to quote Nietzsche back at Rob Doyle: he's not a writer – he is dynamite! Except – like Nietzsche – he’s a tremendous writer too. And I have a suspicion that the author of this provocative and thrilling collection is going to get even better * Geoff Dyer *A world-class writer * Joanna Walsh, author of Vertigo *A masterstroke in experimental short fiction brimming with ideas, vulgarity and intelligence. And Ireland has just gained a cult author of exceptional talent * Sunday Independent *Full of booze, books, sex and despair yet, despite the bleakness of its stories, skewered as they are on broken hearts and broken artistic dreams, Doyle’s cocky passion proves irresistible. He writes with the confidence of a literary giant ... A series of heartening and humane interior struggles. Doyle is as good as everyone – from John Boyne to Colm Toibin – says he is * Daily Mail *One of the most exciting emerging voices in Irish literature * Irish Independent *Doyle’s fiction deals with life’s major themes: sex, death, guilt, shame, the meaning of existence ... Doyle’s storytelling is compelling and engaging, suffused with wit, honesty and emotional intelligence * Irish Times *Doyle displays a ludic sensibility … The stories are gleefully nihilistic … He has a gift for evoking the base and unpleasant aspects of life in vivid and visceral detail ... It creates an almost hypnotic effect; a miasmic fictional space into which the reader slips * Times Literary Supplement *A tremendous talent. Every page fizzes with vitality * Kevin Barry, author of Beatlebone *The mutinous fragments of Rob Doyle's fictions are bilious, provocative and unnervingly compelling * Colin Barrett, author of Young Skins *Bleak, brilliant stories … Don’t be put off by literary allusions. These compelling vignettes stand up for themselves ... They transport us beyond the routines of our daily round, and are visceral, scatological and frequently disturbing ... It’s refreshing to see a young Irish writer keeping up the cloacal tradition introduced by Swift and continued by Joyce * Sunday Times *Bold ... He sets up a metafictional diving board and leaps from it with misanthropic glee ... An authentically manic energy * Guardian *Ireland is producing some of Europe's finest short-story writers. Latest to shine alongside live wires Kevin Barry, Colin Barrett and Claire Keegan is Rob Doyle with a collection of hilarious, sharp-tongued page-turners ... A bright, poetic, erudite new voice. I loved this * Big Issue *Doyle’s characters, and the author himself, tramp and trip over people and places in this fragmented odyssey * RTÉ Guide, ‘The best novels of the coming year’ *Rob Doyle pulls no punches with his uncompromising style * Herald *Relentless nihilism… Doyle has confirmed his status as one of the finest of the new generation of Irish writers * Hot Press *
£9.49
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Africa39
Book SynopsisAfrica has produced some of the best writing of the twentieth century from Chinua Achebe, Ayi Kwei Armah, Ngugi wa Thiong''o, and the Nobel Laureates Wole Soyinka, Nadine Gordimer, J.M. Coetzee and Doris Lessing, to more recent talents like Nuruddin Farah, Ben Okri, Aminatta Forna and Brian Chikwava. Who will be the next generation?Following the successful launch of Bogotá39, which identified many of the most interesting upcoming Latin American talents, including Daniel Alarcon, Junot Diaz (Pulitzer Prize), Santiago Roncagliolo (Independent Foreign Fiction Prize) and Juan Gabriel Vásquez (short-listed for the IFFP), and Beirut39 which published Randa Jarrar, Rabee Jaber, Joumana Haddad, Abdellah Taia and Samar Yazbek, Africa39 will bring to worldwide attention the best work from Africa and its diaspora. From the dazzling list of 39 writers chosen by the judges, Ellah Wakatama Allfrey has selected richly rewarding short stories, extracts from novels, fables and otheTrade ReviewA vivid, evocative, colourful and surprising portrait of the continent through selected stories from a wide variety of young authors, that puts African writing firmly on the literary map. Unusual and utterly compelling * Mariella Frostrup, Waitrose Weekend Books of the Year *A selection from novels, in a thick, bright yellow volme that promises much and consistently delivers. What unifies all these authors, other than talent, is their sheer diversity. There's a tremendous variety of outlooks, and a profusion of styles … Africa39 sports some fine writing and confronts preconceptions at every turn * Glasgow Herald *
£11.69
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC Are You Enjoying
Book Synopsis''Are You Enjoying?'' is emotional, equally hilarious, and gutting. I couldn''t put this book down because I''d been welcomed into the most intimate parts of these characters'' lives'' Rupi KaurFresh, intelligent, and bold: Mira Sethi's stories open up fascinating slices of contemporary life in Pakistan' Mohsin Hamid''Complex, delicate stories, alert both to the comic and the tragic. And while they focus on characters changing in a changing society, there is a timelessness about Sethi''s work that I think comes from her precise observations that a reader will remember like lines of poetry, for their beauty'' Kiran Desai Childhood best friends decide to marry in order to keep their sexuality a secret. A young heiress embarks on a secret affair, ending in devastation but not for the party who was braced for it. A glum divorcee reaches out to his American neighbour. A radicalised student''s preparations for his sister''s wedding in Lahore involve beating up the grooTrade ReviewFresh, intelligent, and bold: Mira Sethi’s stories open up fascinating slices of contemporary life in Pakistan -- MOHSIN HAMIDAre You Enjoying? is emotional, equally hilarious and gutting. I couldn't put this book down because I'd been welcomed into the most intimate parts of these characters' lives. -- RUPI KAURThese are complex, delicate stories, alert both to the comic and the tragic. And while they focus on characters changing in a changing society, there is a timelessness about Sethi's work that I think comes from her precise observations that a reader will remember like lines of poetry, for their beauty. * KIRAN DESAI *Best new books to read in 2021 * Vogue US *50 Best New Books to Read in 2021 * Refinery29 *In Sethi’s striking debut collection, strong women face myriad challenges. * Publishers Weekly *
£8.54
Orion Publishing Co The Return Journey
Book Synopsis''Heart-felt stories of life and love'' Woman & Home from the No. 1 bestselling author''Maeve Binchy''s work continues to inspire . . . thought-provoking, warm and funny in equal measure'' WomanA pair of star-crossed travellers pick up each other''s bags, and then learn that when you unlock a stranger''s suitcase, you enter a stranger''s life. An unspoken office passion meets the acid test on a business trip. A man and a woman''s mutual disdain at first sight shows how deceptive appearances can be. And an insecure wife clings to the illusion of order, only to discover chaos at the hands of a house-sitter who opens the wrong doors.These and many more poignant, often humorous, unforgettable slices of life show why Maeve Binchy is one of the world''s favourite storytellers.Trade ReviewThe perfect poolside read that will take you from desire to devastation in the turn of a few pages. * Daily Express *Heart-felt stories of life and love * Woman & Home *She is one of the few writers who can pull at your heartstrings . . . The author's great skill is to draw you into the world she creates, so that reading her books is like gossiping with old friends * DAILY EXPRESS *She is the Queen of Fiction and one of the funniest and best-loved storytellers in the world . . . once you read Maeve you are hooked for life * IRISH TIMES *An unsurpassed grasp of what makes a good story -- Anne EnrightThe warmest, funniest and most inspiring author . . . I've read everything she ever wrote -- Dame Jennie MurrayA brilliant storyteller who wrote from her heart -- Lorraine KellyMaeve Binchy's work continues to inspire . . . thought-provoking, warm and funny in equal measure * WOMAN *I love her stories! -- Tom HanksMaeve is a storyteller, she has an ear for dialogue and an eye for character and she's employed these gifts to their full potential * IRISH INDEPENDENT *Fourteen heart-felt stories of life and love * WOMAN & HOME *The perfect poolside read that will take you from desire to devastation in the turn of a few pages. * DAILY EXPRESS *Binchy fans will be delighted with this. -- Natasha Harding * THE SUN *
£9.49
Orion Publishing Co The Big Knockover
Book Synopsis''Dashiell Hammett is an original. He is a master of the detective novel, yes, but also one hell of a writer'' BOSTON GLOBEDashiell Hammett''s Continental Op was the prototype for generations of tough-guy detectives. Short, squat and as stubborn as a mule, the Op''s only enthusiasm was doing his job. In the stories in THE BIG KNOCKOVER, the job means solving the bank heist to end all bank heists, taking on a gang of freebooters, cleaning up a vice-ridden hell in the desert and dealing with assorted colourful grifters like the Dis-and-Dat Kid, Alphabet Shorty McCoy and Bluepoint Vance.Trade ReviewHis name remains one of the most important and recognisable in the crime fiction genre. Hammett set the standard for much of the work that would follow * INDEPENDENT *He is master of the detective novel, yes, but also one hell of a writer * BOSTON GLOBE *The first fully "hard-boiled" hero in American letters * NEW YORKER *Hammett's prose is clean and entirely unique. His characters are as sharp and economically defined as any in American literature * NEW YORK TIMES *He put these people down on paper as they are, and he made them talk and think in the language they customarily used -- Raymond ChandlerDashiell Hammett's crime thriller and its hard-boiled hero Sam Spade influenced everyone from Chandler to Le Carré * GUARDIAN *
£10.44
Orion Publishing Co A Few of the Girls
Book Synopsis''Her storytelling ability is second to none'' SUNDAY EXPRESS''Maeve Binchy is a master storyteller'' NEW YORK TIMES''The Irish do love telling stories, and we are suspicious of people who don''t have long, complicated conversations. There used to be a rule in etiquette books that you should invite four talkers and four listeners to a dinner party. That doesn''t work in Ireland, because nobody knows four listeners'' Maeve Binchy Maeve Binchy''s bestselling novels not only tell wonderful stories, they also give an insight in to how Ireland has changed over the decades, and how people remain the same: they still fall in love, sometimes unsuitably; they still have hopes and dreams; they have deep, long-standing friendships, and some that fall apart. From her earliest writing to her most recent, Maeve''s work has included wonderfully nostalgic pieces and also sharp, often witty writing which is insightful and topical. But at the heTrade ReviewBinchy ... is a class act * DAILY EXPRESS *This new collection of Maeve's beloved short stories will force you to put down your smartphone in favour of your favourite armchair and this hardback. Featuring some of her best works it is a fine tribute to a very fine author * IMAGE magazine *The stories bring to life well-developed characters, often in the space of a few paragraphs, and brim with Maeve's warmth and common sense. She writes particularly well on loneliness, and about the hopes and fears of young people on the cusp of adulthood * IRISH INDEPENDENT *A brilliant writer -- Jilly CooperThese stories are full of warmth and humour...easy to read and an ideal present for any of her fans * WOMAN'S WAY *The wit, humanity and truths of dearly departed Maeve Binchy live on in her absorbing fictions as this collection of 41 stories proves. * RTE GUIDE *Reading Maeve Binchy has always acted as therapy of a sort. Her witty, literate small-town tales exude a rosy glow to ease the troubled mind * THE TIMES *Binchy makes you laugh, cry, and care. Her warmth and sympathy render the daily struggles of ordinary people heroic and turn storytelling into art * SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE *A brilliant storyteller who wrote from her heart -- Lorraine KellyThe warmest, funniest and most inspiring author . . . I've read everything she ever wrote -- Dame Jennie MurrayYou can see why, for a legion of female readers, Maeve Binchy is a one-woman opiate of the people * EVENING STANDARD *
£9.49
Abrams Everything Abridged
Book SynopsisTrade Review“Dennard Dayle’s 17 speculative tales, girdled by a Devil’s Dictionary of 501 satiric definitions (literary, political, what-have-you), are by turns prescient of our anxious, conspiracy-fraught times and mournful of majestic worlds to come ruined by all too familiar hatreds. But the post-WWIII stand-up riffs? Truly funny stuff.” * Vulture *“Slyly defiant and blazingly imaginative, like the best modernist literature, Everything Abridged is a powerful celebration of flaw and failure. It’s a book that revels in the timelessness of obsolescence and the freedom of powerlessness. Dayle’s a genre-shattering writer, whose wit and intellect never cease to entertain. This refreshingly original and powerfully funnycollection is a debut to remember.” * Paul Beatty, New York Times bestselling author of The Sellout *“Written as a dictionary, with hilarious and so-blunt-they're-sharp definitions of terms like ‘LimeWire,’ ‘mouse utopia,’ and ‘Perry, Tyler,’ Dayle's debut collection of stories is as likely to stun as it is to inform... incredibly entertaining and so damn illuminating.” * Entertainment Weekly *“Everything Abridged: Stories by Dennard Dayle:Miscategorized. Calling this addictively book-shaped act of language subversion “stories” is like calling New York City “buildings” The nonstandard reference to all sorts of things it would have been disturbing to learn if you hadn’t been laughing so hard Herald of a major new talent—what more do you need to know? Why are you still reading the cover and not the inside?” * Susan Choi, National Book Award–winning author of Trust Exercise *“With Everything Abridged, Dennard Dayle innovates form as much as he does content, creating a work that is funny and familiar, no matter if he’s writing about comedians from Mars, battery-powered humans, or radicalized comic book writers. Combining wit, humor, and an uncanny ability to get to the heart of what can both plague and save us, Dayle is a writer who isn’t ruffling feathers, but plucking the bird bare, and I am grateful as hell for it. Without a doubt one of the best collections I’ve ever read.” * Mateo Askaripour, New York Times bestselling author of Black Buck *“This is one of the most useful books on the current American berserk that I have read in a long time. Kudos, Dennard. You said what we were all trying to say while we were very (angrily) chewing on our kale salads.” * Gary Shteyngart, New York Times bestselling author of Super Sad True Love Story *“Funnier and smarter than pretty much everything else you’ve read in your lifetime.” * Rivka Galchen, author of Atmospheric Disturbances and Everyone Knows Your Mother Is a Witch *“Dayle has broken every rule to create a rollicking satire skewering American hypocrisy. A short story collection that artfully manages to be part dictionary and part joke book, Everything Abridged is a must-read for anyone who still believes humor is the fast track to truth.” * Jessi Jezewska Stevens, author of The Exhibition of Persephone Q *
£11.69
Hodder & Stoughton Trouble in Mind
Book SynopsisA unique collection of short stories from the Number One bestselling master of misdirection Jeffery Deaver, author of THE BONE COLLECTOR.Trade ReviewThe best psychological thriller writer around. * The Times *If you want thrills, Deaver is your man. * Guardian *Deaver never disappoints. * Independent on Sunday *A master of misdirection. * Evening Standard *One of the world's best plotters. * Daily Mail *Grand master of the ticking-clock thriller. -- Kathy Reichs
£9.49
Hodder & Stoughton The High Places
Book SynopsisWinner of the International Dylan Thomas Prize 2017''The judges recognised the mastery of form which is present in Fiona McFarlane''s unforgettable collection of stunning short stories . . . highly varied in tone and brought the reader to characters, situations and places which were haunting in their oddity and moving in their human empathy.'' Chair of judges of International Dylan Thomas Prize 2017, Professor Dai Smith CBEBy the author of The Night Guest, a collection of fourteen scintillating short stories: surprising, wise, thought-provoking and superbly wrought. Ranging in setting from Australia to Greece, England to a Pacific island, they focus on people: their hopes, fears, dreams and disappointments, and their relationships - between ill-matched friends, daughters and mothers, fathers and sons, married couples and sisters. Some are eccentric, like the widower who believes his dead wife''s mechanical parrot speaks to him, or the research scientiTrade ReviewMcFarlane has a gift for cutting into a story at precisely the right angle . . . Her writing is skilled; her point of view is unique. -- Kate Saunders * The Times *Deliciously unsettling, [McFarlane's] characters act and react in unexpected ways, taking both reader and themselves by surprise. -- Lucy Scholes * Observer *In her distinct and unusual voice - the disconcerting tone and dry humour are reminiscent of Margaret Atwood or Valerie Martin - McFarlane examines relationships with uncomfortable clarity and insight, observing the subtext of human behaviour while acknowledging a mysterious power behind the reality we think we know. -- Imogen Lycett Green * Daily Mail *Like a fascinating box of brightly coloured, faintly surreal toys -- Phil Baker * Sunday Times *A terrific collection . . . a baker's dozen of powerful stories -- Jackie McGlone * The Herald (Glasgow) *While the stories in THE HIGH PLACES are imaginative, playful, and intellectually sophisticated, it is no overstatement to suggest that their power resides in the authority of McFarlane's style, not just in her ideas. McFarlane's sentences fizz with imagery . . . The resultant voice is difficult to parse - highly assured, comic but kind, an effervescent admixture of fable, magic realism, and irony . . . [a] remarkable collection. * Australian Book Review *Superb . . . It's not just that McFarlane's descriptions are beautiful prose, though they are. THE HIGH PLACES is more deliberate than that, and more intelligent. McFarlane strikes an emotional note on every page, whether it be humour or nostalgia or discomfort or joy . . . Nothing is forced and the reason I can't pick my favourite is that every one of the 13 stories is a winner. * The Saturday Paper *McFarlane has an intelligent and distinctive voice and she's a marvel at conjuring atmosphere. -- Helen Elliott * Sydney Morning Herald *While lesser writers use similes to render descriptions more vivid, McFarlane's heighten aspects of her characters and advance her plots. -- Christopher Benfey * The New York Times Book Review *McFarlane writes with a deceptively plain hand, and her style gives shape to the unanswered questions of how well we can ever know each other or ourselves . . . The writing is clever and skilful in spades * Kirkus Reviews *McFarlane has a knack for bringing out the macabre . . . and shows herself as an exceptionally fine writer of the ways coercion and care entangle us * Publishers Weekly *
£9.49
John Murray Press Honeydew
Book SynopsisThe new collection of stories from the author of the award-winning Binocular Vision.Trade ReviewPrepare to be dazzled. Edith Pearlman's latest, elating work confirms her place as one of the great modern short-story writers . . . Vivacity and zest enliven every page. Body language is wittily caught . . . Personalities are keenly explored. Honeydew elatingly continues the celebration of life's diversity to which Binocular Vision so excitingly introduced us * Sunday Times *The world's best short story writer thrills us again. Her stories are often likened to those of Alice Munro, but the resemblance is superficial and Pearlman is the finer writer. She is sharper, harder-hitting, odder, her prose and above all her imagery more vivid and memorable . . . These stories do not give up their treasures all at once. You read them many times over and still do not exhaust their depths and subtleties, still hit upon some magnificent phrase that passed you by earlier . . . Edith Pearlman is the best short story writer in the world * Susan Hill, The Times *Honeydew will afford an international audience another opportunity to enjoy Pearlman's distinctive and memorable fictions . . . Pearlman has been compared with, among others, John Updike and Alice Munro, but this is misleading. Pearlman's stories - slightly old-fashioned in their use of conceit; refreshingly loose in their capacity for digression or tangent; occasionally Whartonian in the bemused and acidic clarity of their narrative eye - are sui generis . . . her fiction [is] a fortifying pleasure to read * The Financial Times *One of the most essential short story visionaries of our time * New York Times Book Review *Edith Pearlman's astonishing stories have won numerous awards in America and prompted accolades here, comparing her to Chekhov, Munro and Updike. Such comparisons are not helpful, for her voice is unique; however, her literary status is indeed of the highest order, as this, her fifth collection, most joyfully demonstrates * Literary Review *Depicting her deceptively artless way of writing that places you right by the side of her characters without you knowing how you got there . . . beautifully displays Pearlman's knack for summoning entire lives in a few simple strokes * Metro *[Edith Pearlman's] elegant new collection of shrewdly observed stories dealing with love, friendship, ageing and much more delivers in every way * Woman & Home *Honeydew is [Edith Pearlman's] best collection yet * Boston Globe *Honeydew seems likely to solidify [Pearlman's] place in the literary firmament * New York Times *Smart and deeply rendered, full of striking observations and some of the best sentences you'll ever want to read * Los Angeles Times *There remain a few dedicated practitioners of the short story, and Edith Pearlman is one to be cherished . . . the twenty stories [in Honeydew] are vinegary, rueful, droll, humane and endlessly inquisitive. Though intricately constructed, they are slight in drama and emphasis, set down like a light footprint that nevertheless fixes itself in one's memory as though pressed in wet cement * Wall Street Journal *What a pleasure to encounter a writer who can speak volumes in a few short sentences * Seattle Times *Pearlman's prose shimmers, and the stories are filled with beguiling details * Bookpage *[Pearlman's] virtues are comparable to the great Alice Munro * The Spectator *A short story collection that confirms [Pearlman's] reputation as a great writer * Sunday Times *Pearlman strikes mercilessly at the pressure points of her subjects' lives in a manner reminiscent of Muriel Spark, not least because of the lightness of her touch . . . Her crowning glory, however, is her ability to distil the essence of her stories with the precise grace of a master chemist . . . a perfume of the purest emotion hangs in the air, delicately coating but never drowning Pearlman's prose . . . I'd put money on this being one of the best short story collections of the year * Independent *Will stay in the memory for a long time to come * Bookbag *Her characters are so real that reading the book can feel voyeuristic. America already loves Edith Pearlman. We should get in on the act * Emerald Street *Pearlman strikes swiftly and mercilessly at the pressure points of her subjects' lives in a manner reminiscent of Muriel Spark, not least because of the lightness of her touch * i *I'll never understand why short stories remain an underrated form of fiction compared to novels . . . yet the conventional publishing industry still regards short stories as a risk. Thank goodness some of them think it's a risk worth taking or we might not get little nuggets of gold like Edith Pearlman's Honeydew . . . delicate, superbly crafted stories . . . They say still waters run deep, and so it is with these thoughtful and moving tales that reflect the profound truths of our ordinary lives back at us * Big Issue *Edith Pearlman's meticulously observed new collection . . . Such is the life-affirming power of multi prize-winning Pearlman's storytelling that there is a crumb of comfort to be derived from each resolution, however apparently desolate. She has a remarkable eye for both the ordinary and extraordinary and there is more than a faint hint of melodrama in even the most down-to-earth of domestic situations . . . Pearlman's prose is subtle, ironic and mostly unadorned so the odd metaphor has all the more effect . . . Each story is a masterpiece of economy and the collection as a whole is the perfect bedside book * Daily Express *There is a whole lot of life in Honeydew, Pearlman's masterful and necessary new collection of short stories. Many of the stories in Honeydew feel almost like pocket novels. More than that: they feel like pocket Russian novels. There are so many people in this book that you're left with the impression that Pearlman hasn't written a collection of stories so much as she's written a community of them * National *These twenty tales by the newly crowned doyenne of the American short story are again in a class of their own. Pearlman's exquisitely precise prose brings to life whole lives and whole intricate, convincing worlds. With a profound understanding of her characters' inner life, elegant style and painterly visual imagery . . . these moving, multi-layered tales condense a novel's scope and insight into just a few pages * Lady *Once immersed in the precision-tooled, intricate tales that make up Pearlman's latest collection, Honeydew it is hard to accede to the view that short stories somehow short-change the reader . . . each of the 20 stories here offers a distillation of a lifetime's experience. Belated realisation of what the heart desires is a recurring motif, as is a fascination with the other - other cultures, other people, other ways of being . . . she has the gravity and erudition of Tessa Hadley or Margaret Drabble * Daily Telegraph *Her mastery of the short story form continues to deepen * Observer *[Edith Pearlman's] majestic new collection is further cause for celebration. Pearlman excels at capturing the complex and surprising turns in seemingly ordinary lives . . . a collection abundant with stories that have an uncanny power to charm and devastate . . . Honeydew should cement her reputation as one of the most essential short story visionaries of our time * Scotsman *A book to dip into and savour * Choice *A moreish treat from a master of the form * New Statesman *Honeydew . . . retains the 78-year-old author's ferociously individual style, characterised by prose that is bolshie yet nuanced, elegant but not fussy, stylish without being vain . . . the dialogue is clear as water yet punches like gin, with characters memorably frothed with metaphor * The Economist *Edith Pearlman is a true master of the short story . . . Each short story is beautifully written. Pearlman has an enviable way with words . . . In every story her brilliant use of imagery, characterisation and moral, quite simply, cannot be faulted * Journal *An intricate and ingenious writer * TLS *Edith Pearlman is the best short story writer in the world, wrote The Times of the American author's latest work. If you don't already know that, you have a very pleasurable task ahead of you . . . Frequently compared to Alice Munro and Raymond Carver, Pearlman is the sharper, more idiosyncratic and empathetic writer * The Times *What I noticed first about these stories was their self-evident skill and polish, their energy, their arresting situations and images, their undeniable originality . . . no doubt there are readers who will find this collection irresistible * Guardian *She is compared with Nobel laureate Alice Munro and Raymond Carver, although she is the sharper, more idiosyncratic and empathetic writer * The Times, Books of the Year *Mainly set in her native New England the stories shimmer with variety . . . Vividness enriches every page * Sunday Times *In a class of their own * Lady *Set in small-town Massachusetts, Pearlman's tales are subtly observed stories of suburban existence, loss, misunderstanding and frustration * Daily Express *
£9.49
Pan Macmillan The Angel Esmeralda Nine Stories
Book SynopsisDon DeLillo, the author of many bestselling novels, including Point Omega, Falling Man, White Noise and Libra, has won many honours in America and abroad, including the National Book Award, the PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction, the Jerusalem Prize for his complete body of work and the William Dean Howells Medal from the American Academy of Arts and Letters for his novel Underworld. In 2010, he received the PEN/Saul Bellow Award. He has also written several plays.
£10.44
The Dundurn Group A Song for Wildcats
Book SynopsisAn arresting, vividly imaginative collection of stories, each capturing the complexity of intimacy and wounded inner worlds. In The Lyrebird's Bell, infatuation and violence grow between girls in the enchanting wilderness of post-war Australia, as they escape their families by spinning disturbed fantasies. The title story follows the passionate bond between two young men in the midst of the 1968 French student revolts, while they navigate and at times resist the philosophical and emotional nature of love. In The Islanders, an orphaned boy and his estranged aunt are thrown suddenly together, on a quiet peninsula, at the height of the Irish Troubles with their deeply rooted fear and anger attracting the attention of shape-shifting phantoms of war. All five long-form stories are uncanny portraits of pained resilience, from a voice defined by its unique beauty, insight, and resonance.A RARE MACHINES BOOK
£13.29
Simon & Schuster Ltd The Duck Who Didnt Like Water
Book Synopsis‘A wonderful, tender evocation of friendship and how its power can help you overcome your worst fears. A pure splash of joy.’ The Daily MailShortlisted for Oscar's Book Prize 2022Duck is not like other ducks. Duck doesn’t like water and is perfectly fine alone, thank you very much. But then, one dark and stormy night, an outgoing, water-loving, and very lost Frog turns up at Duck’s door. Can this odd couple find Frog’s home? And will they find friendship along the way?This endearing, gorgeously illustrated tale marks the author-illustrator debut for Steve Small, illustrator of the highly acclaimed, I’m Sticking with You by Smriti Halls (shortlisted for Oscar's Book Prize 2021 and for Children's Illustrated Book of the Year at the British Book Awards 2021).‘A beautiful book, with a zen-like balance, and full of light and drama, too.’ Be
£11.69
Little, Brown Book Group The Dark Dark
Book SynopsisA Best Book of the Year: NPR, Vogue, The Huffington Post, The Chicago Review of Books, The National Post, Electric Literature, Kirkus''Wields such a subtle and alien power . . . Wonderfully spooky'' Jia Tolentino, The New Yorker''A feminist manifesto threaded through imaginative fiction; it''s the most evocative, impressive collection I''ve read this year'' Daniel Johnson, The Paris ReviewStep into The Dark Dark, where an award-winning, acclaimed novelist debuts her first collection of short stories and conjures entire universes in just a few pages - conjures, splits in half, mines for humor, destroys with absurdity, and regenerates. In prose that sparkles and haunts, Samantha Hunt playfully pushes the bounds of the expected and fills every corner with vibrant life, imagining numerous ways in which the weird might poke its way through the mundane. Each of these tTrade ReviewEach of the stories in this collection harbors a surreal twist . . . Hunt lingers over such moments just long enough to suggest that the phantasmagorical can be found in any situation, no matter how banal * The New Yorker *These stories have an eerie fairytale quality to them . . . utterly beguiling . . . Spellbinding. * Daily Mail *A feminist manifesto threaded through imaginative fiction; it's the most evocative, impressive collection I've read this year * The Paris Review *
£9.49
Headline Publishing Group Fool for Love
Book SynopsisIn one new volume, an irresistible collection of stories from two previous works, SMILE and CHANGING BABIES, with additional stories, previously unpublished in book form.''What informs Moggach''s excellent stories is not just the exactness of her observation, but the quality of warmth and affection'' Sunday Times From swimming on Hampstead Heath to house-sitting with troublesome dogs, or illicit afternoon trysts in Soho to pedicures in Florence with recalcitrant teenagers, this collection of short stories includes some previously unpublished in book form, and covers the gamut of human nature - our foibles, our loves, our desires, hopes, ambitions and failures. Rich in observation and speckled with a delicious dark humour, FOOL FOR LOVE: THE SELECTED SHORT STORIES confirms Deborah Moggach''s place as one of our finest observers of human life.<Trade ReviewQuirky, sassy, well-crafted...Moggach at her best * TLS *What informs Moggach's excellent stories is not just the exactness of her observation, but the quality of warmth and affection * Sunday Times *'She writes unflinchingly about family life, divorce, children, and the ups and downs of relationships' * Independent *
£9.49
Headline Publishing Group Mystery in the Making
Book SynopsisA COLLECTION OF 18 SHORT STORIES OF MURDER, MYSTERY AND MAYHEM Throughout her distinguished career, Ann Granger has penned an array of hugely entertaining and gripping short stories. To mark her thirtieth anniversary as a crime writer, eighteen of these compelling mysteries have been brought together to delight and enthral crime fans everywhere. From a nosy neighbour who trusts no one to a jealous nephew protecting his inheritance, and from a ghostly apparition on a cruise ship to an Oxford undergraduate who cannot escape his past, Ann''s short stories transport readers from the Highlands of Scotland to the rugged coast of Cornwall and from the Victorian era to the present day. In each story there is an intriguing mystery to captivate the most avid crime fan, making this a collection to treasure.Trade ReviewCharacterisation, as ever with Granger, is sharp and astringent * The Times *Her usual impeccable plotting is fully in place * Good Book Guide *A clever and lively book -- Margaret YorkeTo be savoured by connoisseurs of characterisation * Publishers Weekly *Lovely characterisation and a neat plot * Yorkshire Post *Her characterisation is excellent * Cotswold Life *Good plotting and believable motivation * Crime Time *
£12.58
Edinburgh University Press E.L. Doctorow
Book SynopsisThis book gathers a suite of newly commissioned, original essays on the work of E. L. Doctorow.
£19.94
Orion Publishing Co The Ministry of Special Cases
Book SynopsisBuenos Aires, 1970s. Kaddish Poznan chips the names off gravestones for a living, removing traces of disreputable ancestors for their more respectable kin. His wife Lillian works in insurance, earning money when people live longer than they fear. When the government is overthrown in a military coup, their son Pato is arrested by the police and becomes one of the disappeared. Desperate to find him, Kaddish and Lillian turn to the Ministry of Special Cases, a bureaucracy of anguish and false promises, and they discover just how far they are willing to go to save their son...Trade ReviewPowerful and engaging ... shot through with a dark humour, which makes it all the more moving * The Times *Who is this Nathan Englander, so young in novelist years, but already possessed of an old masters voice? One reads this novel in awe of Englander's talent * New York Times *Wry and haunting ... Englander's novel is a striking memorial to the victims of political oppression * Sunday Times *Englander writes with exquisite precision * Guardian *At times so heartbreaking that you want to turn away * Sunday Telegraph *
£9.49
Orion Publishing Co Plain Pleasures
Book Synopsis'Readers who've not yet read Jane Bowles are almost to be envied, like people who've still to read Austen or Mansfield or Woolf' ALI SMITH Seven short stories by the author of TWO SERIOUS LADIESTrade ReviewReaders who've not yet read Jane Bowles are almost to be envied, like people who've still to read Austen or Mansfield or Woolf, and have all the delight, the literary satisfaction, the shock of classic originality, the revelation of such good writing, still to come. * Ali Smith *One of the finest modern writers of fiction in any language. * John Ashberry *A thoroughly original mind - a mind at once profoundly witty, genuinely unusual in its apprehensions, and bracingly, humanely true. * Claire Messud *A modern legend ... A very funny writer ... with at [her] heart the subtlest comprehension of eccentricity and human apartness. * Truman Capote *A dizzyingly original stylist * New York Times *Bowles is a master of the unforgettable phrase that no one else could have written * William S. Burroughs *The most important writer of prose fiction in modern American letters * Tennessee Williams *Deserves to sit next to Mansfield, Rhys and Woolf * Chris Power *
£8.54
Orion Publishing Co Las Biuty Queens
Book SynopsisWITH AN INTRODUCTION BY PEDRO ALMODÓVAR The lives of trans Latinx come alive in this cocktail of bleakness and joy de vivre that depicts a community living on the wrong side of the American dream.Trade ReviewAn ode to New York City's queer and trans immigrant community... Ojeda, a Chilean American writer, brings sincerity and dark humor to tales of drug addiction, prison life at Rikers Island and a five-time beauty pageant winner, drawing from personal experience as a trans performer, sex worker and undocumented immigrant. * New York Times *Can't get enough of Pose? Then Las Biuty Queens will be your new fave read. Exploring the lives of the Latin American trans community, Biuty Queens effortlessly blends heart and humour while exploring life on the wrong side of the American dream. Ivan Monalisa Ojeda sparkles as one of 2021's boldest new writers. * Cosmopolitan, Best books to read in summer 2021 *Chilean American writer Ojeda dazzles and devastates in this rich collection about a group of trans Latinx immigrants as they try to make it in New York City. Stories of drug addiction and police brutality, street queens and beauty contests portray the danger, decadence, and joy in the characters' lives... Throughout, Ojeda proves to be a captivating presence on the page. * Publishers Weekly *These stories are about 'what it means to cross from one side to the other, what it means to get home in one piece...' A crystalline energy tears through these pages and insists we keep our eyes open. This is New York, full of beauty and pain-turn away at your own peril * Nick Flynn, author of Another Bullshit Night in Suck City *This story collection marks the arrival of a singular personality with a unique and quintessential American voice. You can't just read this book; you bathe in its grit, the resilience of its characters and, most of all, its beauty. What a stunning book * Jose Antonio Vargas, founder of Define American and author of Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen *Iván Monalisa Ojeda brings to life a breathtaking world of camaraderie, beautiful messiness, pain, and resilience in Las Biuty Queens. He/she offers us captivating snapshots of Latinx trans sex workers living, working, and loving in New York City, telling a story close to my heart: that of keeping one another alive, fed, bailed out, and in deliciously deviant company amidst the harshness of criminalization. This book is like the money a friend slips in your pocket when they know you can't make rent: a fortifying whisper to carry on, and carry each other with us * Tourmaline, filmmaker and activist *Vibrant, honest, and unfailingly engaging, the stories in this collection are a revelation and a source of great comfort. Ivan Monalisa Ojeda is a thrilling writer and a singular cultural observer * Rakesh Satyal, author of Blue Boy and No One Can Pronounce My Name *No one in Chile writes like Iván Monalisa Ojeda. No one has his/her ease, his/her boldness, his/her tenderness. The stories we find in Las Biuty Queens fiercely depict the life of an undocumented immigrant in New York. Here the glamor and lights coexist with misery and solitude. The American dream doesn't exist. We're left with the fragile voices of this book as they tell, in rabid Spanglish, the story of a nightmare as gorgeous as it is infinite. * Diego Zúñiga, award-winning author of Camanchaca *Monalisa is a legend. She lives in New York as an illegal and her stories are about dressed addicts. A powerful pen. He looks a lot like Lemebel, but he has his own voice. Her personality is even more edge, and she doesn't want to make the world a better place with literature. Of survive on an expensive and tough New York is what it's all about. It's like being in a permanent apocalypse. * Carlos Velázquez *Can't get enough of Pose? Then Las Biuty Queens will be your new fave read. Exploring the lives of the Latin American trans community, Biuty Queens effortlessly blends heart and humour while exploring life on the wrong side of the American dream. Ivan Monalisa Ojeda sparkles as one of 2021's boldest new writers. * COSMOPOLITAN *
£11.69
New York University Press Eight Stories
Book SynopsisA compelling set of short stories from the author of World War I classic, All Quiet on the Western Front German-American novelist Erich Maria Remarque captured the emotional anguish of a generation in his World War I masterpiece, All Quiet on the Western Front, as well as in an impressive selection of novels, plays, and short stories. This exquisite collection revives Remarque's unforgettable voice, presenting a series of short stories that have long ago faded from public memory. From the haunting description of an abandoned battlefield to the pain of losing a loved one in the war to soldiers' struggles with what we now recognize as PTSD, the stories offer an unflinching glimpse into the physical, emotional, and even spiritual implications of World War I. In this collection, we follow the trials of naïve war widow Annette Stoll, reflect on the power of small acts of kindness toward a dying soldier, and join Johann Bartok, a weary prisoner of war, in his struggle to reunite with his wifTrade ReviewThe world has a great writer in Erich Maria Remarque. He is a craftsman of unquestionably first rank, a man who can bend language to his will. Whether he writes of men or of inanimate nature, his touch is sensitive, firm, and sure. * The New York Times Book Review *
£9.99
Open Road Media Skin Folk: Stories
Book SynopsisThe SFWA Grand Master’s award-winning collection “combines a richly textured multicultural background with incisive storytelling” (Library Journal). In Skin Folk, with works ranging from science fiction to Caribbean folklore, passionate love to chilling horror, Nalo Hopkinson is at her award-winning best, spinning tales like “Precious,” in which the narrator spews valuable coins and gems from her mouth whenever she attempts to talk or sing. In “A Habit of Waste,” a self-conscious woman undergoes elective surgery to alter her appearance; days later she’s shocked to see her former body climbing onto a public bus. In “The Glass Bottle Trick,” the young protagonist ignores her intuition regarding her new husband’s superstitions—to horrifying consequences. Hopkinson’s unique pacing and vibrant dialogue sets a steady beat for stories that illustrate why she received the John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. Entertaining, challenging, and alluring, Skin Folk is not to be missed. Praise for Nalo Hopkinson and the World Fantasy Award–winning Skin Folk “Hopkinson’s prose is vivid and immediate.” —The Washington Post Book World “An important new writer.” —The Dallas Morning News “Her descriptions of ordinary people finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances ring true, the result of her strong evocation of place and her ear for dialect.” —Publishers Weekly “A marvelous display of Nalo Hopkinson’s talents, skills and insights into the human conditions of life, especially of the fantastic realities of the Caribbean . . . Everything is possible in her imagination.” —Science Fiction ChronicleTrade Review“Hopkinson’s prose is vivid and immediate.” —The Washington Post Book World “An important new writer.” —The Dallas Morning News “Caribbean folklore informs many of the 15 stories, ranging from fabulist to mainstream, in this literary first short-fiction collection from Nebula and Hugo awards-nominee Hopkinson. Her descriptions of ordinary people finding themselves in extraordinary circumstances ring true, the result of her strong evocation of place and her ear for dialect. . . . Though marketed as science fiction, this collection should hand-sell to fans of multicultural fiction.” —Publishers Weekly “This 15-story collection is a marvelous display of Nalo Hopkinson’s talents, skills and insights into the human conditions of life, especially of the fantastic realities of the Caribbean. She displays the complexities of the seven deadly sins . . . and perhaps those of the seven deadly virtues. Everything is possible in her imagination.” —Science Fiction Chronicle
£15.26
Bloodhound Books Written in the Stars: A charity anthology of
Book SynopsisA unique collection of stories from bestselling authors Angela Marsons, Rob Sinclair, Joy Ellis, Louise Beech and many more!Written in the Stars is a festive charity anthology with short stories from a variety of authors, including international bestsellers and award-winning writers. There’s something for everyone, with tales that will make you laugh, make you cry, or make you sleep with the light on. It’s the perfect book to curl up with on a cold winter’s night. All net profits from this anthology are in aid of Great Ormond Street Hospital Charity and The Butterfly AVM Charity, who both work tirelessly to offer help to children and their families with life-threatening illnesses. Authors include: A.A. Abbott, Angela Marsons, Beverley Harvey, Caron McKinlay, Diane Saxon, D.S. Butler, Emma Tallon, Eva Jordan, Gina Kirkham, Helen Walters, Jen Faulkner, John Harkin, Joy Ellis, Keri Beevis, Laura Stewart, Louise Beech Marrisse Whittaker, Mike Walters, Natasha Boydell, Patricia Dixon, Rob Sinclair (writing as CJ Stone), Stephen Edger and Valerie Keogh.
£9.49
Pan Macmillan Bleaker House: Chasing My Novel to the End of the
Book Synopsis'Perfect' Lena Dunham 'This year's literary sensation' Evening StandardHow far would you travel to become a writer?8000 miles from home1085 calories a day3 months to write the novel that would make her nameAt least that was the plan. But when Nell Stevens travelled to Bleaker Island in the Falklands (official population: two) she didn’t count on the isolation getting to her . . . Hilarious and heartbreaking, this is a book about loneliness and creativity. It is about discovering who you are when there’s no one else around. And it’s about what to do when a plan doesn’t work: ultimately Nell may have failed to write a novel, but she succeeded in becoming a writer.Trade ReviewThe perfect read for anyone who has ever considered themselves "a writer" * Sunday Times Style Magazine *This year's literary sensation . . . summer's must-read . . . an often very entertaining book about failing to write a book . . . what makes it most like something Dunham might have conceived is the comic skill with which Stevens deftly builds up a portrait of herself as the flawed but loveably self-deluding heroine of her own pyrrhic publishing scheme. This is a picaresque, recognisably human tale of a young woman’s failure to follow through on the glaringly unrealistic goals she set herself. * Evening Standard *Quirky . . . fascinating . . . she may not have written the novel of her dreams, but the book she has produced will resonate with anyone who has shared her ambitions [to write]. * Daily Mail *Confiding, edgy and ever-so-slightly horrifying . . . I enjoyed it so much I wolfed it in one sitting. Bleaker House is an enthralling reflection on writing: how it is taught and how you learn to do it. And you’ll never look at a potato or a Ferrero Rocher in quite the same way again. * Daily Express *Bleaker House swirls text, subtext, and context into a single narrative, a mesmerizing literary levitation act . . . lovely and thoughtful * Vogue *One of the most original, entertaining, and thought-provoking books I have ever read about the difficulty of writing a book * New Yorker *Stevens writes with considerable charm and winning honesty * Guardian *An entertaining, perverse and singular book * Observer *As Stevens wrestles with questions of how (and whether) to turn the grist of life’s happenings into literary material, she paints an honest portrait of writerly neurosis. * San Francisco Chronicle *Entertaining . . . A thought-provoking reflection on writers and writing * Tatler *Hilarious and original, charming and engaging. I loved it -- Rebecca Wait, author of The View on the Way Down and The FollowersI wolfed this wholly original part-memoir, part travelogue, part short story collection in one sitting, and adored it. As well as being funny, edgy, confiding, and ever so slightly horrifying, it's also a fascinating reflection on writing: how it is taught, and how it is learned. And you'll never look at a potato - or a Ferrero Rocher chocolate - in quite the same way again * Bookseller *I read Bleaker House in a gulp. It's a charming read whose first third has a laugh a page before Nell's odyssey turns into something more serious. You can't, just by attending writing school, learn how to produce fine writing. This clever and funny book shows you may also want to get out and experience the world, and yourself, as well. -- Dan Boothby, author of Island of DreamsBleaker House is so riveting and so much fun to read, I would have loved it even if it hadn't also been innovative and brilliant, but it is all those things. Nell Stevens is an excellent writer and I can't wait to read every book she writes. -- Kate Christensen, author of PEN/Faulkner-winning The Great ManFresh and spirited . . . A delightful literary debut * Kirkus *There's something alluringly Victorian about the whole book . . . In our increasingly small and connected world, narratives that tackle the peculiar senses of loneliness and remove, and the effects they have on the self, are increasingly rare . . . Bleaker House never devolves into a stunt book. Instead, Stevens charts a path of personal and professional exploration tinged with both sadness and humor * Jezebel *An inventive memoir about a young writer's struggle to find her literary footing * NPR *A whimsical, good-humored, yearning-filled, thought-provoking read * Bustle *Quirky and engaging . . . A captivating portrait of the creative life * BookPage *Perfect -- Lena DunhamNell Stevens takes you on a wild ramble across the landscape of the writing life, and at the end sets you down somewhere entirely new and unexpected. This is a romp of a book, a genre-defying feat of the imagination, and pure pleasure to read. -- Alison Pick, Booker-longlisted author of Far to GoIt's not only her fellow writers who will be captivated by Stevens's meditative, engagingly comic reflection on the three months she spent working on a novel * Harper's Bazaar *
£8.54
Pan Macmillan Evening in Paradise: More Stories
Book Synopsis'The chance to join "the Revival of the Great Lucia Berlin"' New York Times'Raw, elliptical, devilishly funny tales' ObserverRanging from Texas, to Chile, to New Mexico and New York, in Evening in Paradise Berlin writes about the good, the bad and everything in between: struggling young mothers, husbands who pack their bags and leave in the middle of the night, wives looking back at their first marriage from the distance of their second . . .The publication of A Manual for Cleaning Women, Lucia Berlin’s dazzling collection of short stories, marked the rediscovery of a writer whose talent had gone unremarked by many. The incredible reaction to Lucia’s writing – her ability to capture the beauty and ugliness that coexist in everyday lives, the extraordinary honesty and magnetism with which she draws on her own history to breathe life into her characters – included calls for her contribution to American literature to be as celebrated as that of Raymond Carver.Evening in Paradise is a careful selection from Lucia Berlin’s remaining stories – a jewel-box follow-up for her hungry fans.Trade ReviewWonderful . . . Brilliant * Times *[Evening in Paradise] shines with compassion and dark wit . . . raw, elliptical, devilishly funny tales. * Observer *A writer of tender, chaotic and careworn short stories. Her work can remind you of Raymond Carver's or Grace Paley's or Denis Johnson's . . . One thing that makes Berlin so valuable is her gift for evoking the sweetness and earnestness of young women who fall in love . . . Berlin probably deserved a Pulitzer Prize. -- Dwight Garner * New York Times *A fearless storyteller . . . [Berlin's] work is testimony to a kaleidoscopic life that would scare the sh*t out of most writers alive today. I adore her. -- Eli Goldstone, author of Strange Heart BeatingLucia Berlin is a genius and the swerves of her sentences sublime. -- Lucy CaldwellThank god for the posthumous revival of Lucia Berlin – how sad it would be to have never experienced her distinctive, vibrant voice . . . utterly captivating. * Buzzfeed (Best Books of Fall 2018) *Berlin’s stories, largely autobiographical tales of working class life in the American West, slipped beneath the radar in her lifetime but galvanized contemporary readers. Now we have a second, smaller volume that is every bit as good as its predecessor. If you’ve never read Berlin, now’s your chance. * Newsday *Berlin . . . is a master at capturing women in states of disintegration: those who are being damaged, physically or emotionally, by men; those who are immersed in scandal or disdained by society; and those who are intentionally self-destructing. Her oeuvre contains, among lots of other things, a profound record of what shame, trauma, and hanging on by your fingernails looked like on a particular woman—or a particular kind of woman—half a century ago. * Atlantic *Wonderful . . . Berlin’s writing achieves a dreamy, delightful effect as it provides a look back through time. This collection should further bolster Berlin’s reputation as one of the strongest short story writers of the 20th century. * Publishers Weekly (starred review) *Blessedly, a second volume with 22 more stories is in no way second rate but rather features more seductive, sparkling autofiction with narrators whose names echo the author's in settings and situations that come from her roller-coaster biography . . . No dead author is more alive on the page than Berlin: funny, dark, and so in love with the world. * Kirkus (starred review) *Any publication of hers is a major cause for celebration, as far as I’m concerned. -- Maggie O’Farrell * Guardian, Best summer books 2018 *[Berlin's] spare evocative language and lithe turn of phrase make each phrase quietly extraordinary. * The Scotsman *In Evening in Paradise – which reads like novel-in-stories—Berlin shows that she was a master of the short story . . . This book is so transportative, so wonderful. -- Favourite Books of 2018 * LitHub *There’s always an audacious humour and humanity to [Berlin's] writing. * Red *Berlin expertly balances beauty and bleakness, and finds drama, joy or revelation in humdrum experiences . . . Berlin once again makes original art from her chequered life . . . When the words flowed, Berlin managed to perform small miracles with them. * Economist *You might assume that these represent the crumbs from the table, the ones not good enough to make the first volume, but that’s not the case . . . you can’t keep a good stylist down, and an authentic voice begins to come through. -- John Self * Irish Times *Lucia Berlin writes in colour. Not wishy-washy pastels, or hues described with copious adjectives, but instead saturated colour . . . Berlin looks for other ways to think about women’s lives, freed from simple explanations. * TLS *Berlin’s fiction subtly complicates what it meant to be an American in the latter half of the last century . . . The stories in Evening in Paradise, Berlin’s second posthumous collection, are filled again with shabby rooms and shabbier lives . . . There is no wallowing, no bathos. Instead there is an acute and varied awareness of the meaning of America, both at home and in the world. * Guardian *More marvellous musical stories from Lucia Berlin who has an eye for the unexpected loveliness in ordinary lives as vivid, vital, impulsive women pitch themselves into the merry, melancholy, messy business of living. * Sunday Express *There is something withholding about the way she mixes minimalism with excess that keeps those of us with the taste for it coming back . . . Berlin’s gifts are not ones you have ever tried or been told to cultivate. The details she chooses are those you have purposely eliminated, with that hitch in your ear that tells you to keep everything timeless . . . It’s the reason I felt so resentful at first to be shut out, because the intimacy on offer was so great. -- Patricia Lockwood * London Review of Books *Berlin is not only a soulful chronicler of the lost corners of America, whose semi-autobiographical stories brim with red caliche clay, arroyos, drainage ditches and smelter towns. She is not only a writer of vivid bursts of language . . . She is also a distinctly female voice, a raspy Marlene Dietrich. * New York Times Book Review *There’s still plenty in Evening in Paradise to conjure the original thrill of reading Berlin. * Financial Times *Long before the current autofiction craze, Lucia Berlin was spinning her day-to-day into powerfully spare prose that ached with brutal authenticity . . . these new volumes become a jigsaw-puzzle portrait of a long-neglected literary legend, baring the autobiographical material that filtered so forcefully into her fiction. The mystery of her fiction is not, it turns out, in the source of its inspiration. It is in how Berlin transformed her life into art that is as vital as the thing itself. * Vogue *[Evening in Paradise] reveals just how full a body of rich work Berlin left behind . . . Time and again, the stories reveal that her subject wasn’t domestic life but life itself, which for her often happened to be filtered through the domestic. * Los Angeles Times *What molds the fiction is Berlin’s artistic sensibility – her global perspective, the shrewd compassion with which she scrutinizes her characters, and the absurdity – not to mention the flora – that populates the many landscapes of her world. * San Francisco Chronicle *This never-before-published memoir and new collection are cause for jubilation. In part because they make it clear Berlin's gifts were vast, complex, and full of tonal warmths . . . Like Chekhov, Berlin was a beautiful framer of stories. * Boston Globe *Prepare to fall in love all over again . . . the cunning, beautiful creation of a genius of the form. * NYLON *Table of ContentsUnit - 1: The Musical Vanity Boxes Unit - 2: Sometimes in Summer Unit - 3: Andado: A Gothic Romance Unit - 4: Dust to Dust Unit - 5: Itinerary Unit - 6: Lead Street, Albuquerque Unit - 7: Noël. Texas. 1956 Unit - 8: The Adobe House with a Tin Roof Unit - 9: A Foggy Day Unit - Cherry Blossom Time: 10 Unit - 11: Evening in Paradise Unit - 12: La Barca de la Ilusión Unit - 13: My Life Is an Open Book Unit - 14: The Wives Unit - 15: Noël, 1974 Unit - 16: The Pony Bar, Oakland Unit - 17: Daughters Unit - 18: Rainy Day Unit - 19: Our Brother’s Keeper Unit - 20: Lost in the Louvre Unit - 21: Luna Nueva Unit - 22: Sombra
£13.49
West Margin Press Weird and Horrific Stories
Book SynopsisWeird and Horrific Stories (2021) collects some of H. P. Lovecraft’s finest early work. Although his reputation as one of the world’s greatest writers of horror and weird fiction remains undisputed, much of his writing was published in such pulp literary magazines as Argosy, the United Amateur, and Weird Tales, making it difficult to find proper collections. Weird and Horrific Stories attempts to bridge this gap for modern readers, bringing them face to face with some of Lovecraft’s most terrifying creations.“The Alchemist,” originally written in 1908 and published in 1916, is the story of Count Antoine, whose ancestors were cursed after killing a fearsome dark wizard named Michel Mauvais. Every generation since has seen the death of its male members at the age of thirty-two, an age fast approaching for Antoine. Lonely and terrified, he sets out to put an end to the cycle of death and suffering. “Dagon,” which appeared in The Vagrant in 1919, is a story told by a morphine-addicted man who survived a terrible shipwreck during the First World War. In “The Cats of Ulthar,” published in 1920, an unnamed narrator recounts the legal history of the town of Ulthar, which once was the home to a sadistic couple known for their obsession with torturing and killing housecats. Weird and Horrific Stories collects over thirty stories written at the height of Lovecraft’s career.With a beautifully designed cover and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of H. P. Lovecraft’s Weird and Horrific Stories is a classic work of American horror reimagined for modern readers.
£17.09
