The perfect year-round present

Brilliant...Murakami introduces all these stories with grace and lightness of touch

A memorable collection. Voices and settings as diverse as the authors, but they are all concerned with the arbitrary yet immensely significant way in which we mark the passing of our lives

The quality of storytelling is exemplary... There's darkness enough here for the hardiest of cynics, but enough heart to charm

Most collections of short stories work by the interplay of different voices. This one offers the more satisfying rewards of a novel: unity of tone and a richness of recurring detail that creates its own texture: spaghetti, lawns, hamburgers, beer-drinking, kid sisters, Sunday afternoons, a man's name

Munro's stories enact what can only be called a sort of magic

Alice Munro! Now that's writing

Stories that mirror reality -- in all its erratic unpredictability -- so convincingly that you can almost forget the skill with which they're created

The Great One

In these stories, fiction saves lives. Imagination kills. Tales break bones

Munro can be harrowing to read; she can make your gums tingle, make you moan, or make you cry...really, who could be better?

The most exciting Irish short story writer of his generation, one whose best work rivals William Trevor and John McGahern. His language is thrilling: Barry has a Martin Amis-style aversion to writing so much as one dull sentence. Talent this raw and natural simply cannot be taught.

A rhythmic, rural Hiberno-English onslaught, which forces black humour into the bleakest of corners

Ireland's must-read literary author

When I read the first of these short stories, I could immediately see there was something special about this writer... Funny and beautifully observed...

Barry is undoubtedly acquainted with the darker side of existence and unafraid to depict it with humour and great humanity

This vividly told collection of short stories spans love, cruelty and desperation

Barry’s best stories combine playful irony with high emotion

Kevin Barry…isn’t sparing with his powers. Even his throwaway lines are keepers… But what makes this book such a satisfying read is that his memorable sentence-writing is in the service of well-constructed, moving stories

A writer who reveals the power of the short story to speak for our time

O’Connor is a gifted storyteller… [He] has a wonderful ear for dialogue and is a master of the telling phrase

This collection is beautiful; full of pure, simple truths that linger long in the mind