Author:Heinrich Kleist
In The Marquise of O-, a virtuous widow finds herself unaccountably pregnant. And although the baffled Marquise has no idea when this happened, she must prove her innocence to her doubting family and discover whether the perpetrator is an assailant or lover. Michael Kohlhaas depicts an honourable man who feels compelled to violate the law in his search for justice, while other tales explore the singular realm of the uncanny, such as The Beggarwoman of Locarno, in which an old woman's ghost drives a heartless nobleman to madness, and St Cecilia, which portrays four brothers possessed by an uncontrollable religious mania. The stories collected in this volume reflect the preoccupations of Heinrich von Kleist (1777-1811) with the deceptiveness of human nature and the unpredictability of the physical world.
[Written] with engaging humour and acuity... These stories irreverently explore the yearning for the sacred
—— GuardianArresting and funny
—— Times Literary SupplementIntensely absorbing...Like Raymond Chandler, small deeds ripple through these lives without necessarily changing them, but Alexie's rich tales will certainly affect, if not change, yours
—— ScotsmanAlexie's painfully funny and astute stories chase the dilemmas of the Spokane diaspora, stripped of any myth or presumption of what Indian might be
—— IndependentA potent collection that takes a swipe at modern life and gives it a universal human face
—— HeraldRachel Seiffer's short stories excel at depicting the awkwardness and confusions of life...and all are created with the same confidence and skill she showed in her Booker nominated novel The Dark Room
—— Sian Stott , Daily TelegraphSkillfully constructed... It's rare to meet such an unwriterly writer. Especially one who does it so well
—— ObserverCaptivating... Because Seiffert writes without judgment or sympathy, her flawed characters are all the more compelling
—— Entertainment WeeklyWhether they are Polish emigrés or hoary World War I veteran's, Seiffert's cast walks the knife's edge of history... It takes an agile mind and dexterous prose to invoke such weighty chunks of history in short fiction
—— Milwaukee Journal Sentinel