Author:Roald Dahl
Genesis and Catastrophe is a brilliant gem of a short story from Roald Dahl, the master of the sting in the tail.
In Genesis and Catastrophe, Roald Dahl, one of the world's favourite authors, tells a sinister story about the darker side of human nature. Here, a baby is born and his worried parents, who have lost children before, are concerned for his future . . .
Genesis and Catastrophe is taken from the short story collection Kiss Kiss, which includes ten other devious and shocking stories, featuring the wife who pawns the mink coat from her lover with unexpected results; the priceless piece of furniture that is the subject of a deceitful bargain; a wronged woman taking revenge on her dead husband, and others.
'Unnerving bedtime stories, subtle, proficient, hair-raising and done to a turn.' (San Francisco Chronicle )
This story is also available as a Penguin digital audio download read by Juliet Stevenson.
Roald Dahl, the brilliant and worldwide acclaimed author of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, James and the Giant Peach, Matilda, and many more classics for children, also wrote scores of short stories for adults. These delightfully disturbing tales have often been filmed and were most recently the inspiration for the West End play, Roald Dahl's Twisted Tales by Jeremy Dyson. Roald Dahl's stories continue to make readers shiver today.
A vindication of the rights of fiction...His story-telling powers are alive and well - his ingenuity, wit, charm and his restless talent for the unexpected
—— Sunday TimesLiterary magic
—— Literary ReviewThe most original imagination writing today
—— Nadine GordimerScheherazade meets Star Trek in these well-honed miniatures from the maestro of the cross-cultural blockbuster
—— IndependentHome in neither, but poised somewhere in between - Salman Rushdie's volume of short stories on this theme is deft, inventive, entertaining
—— Financial TimesOne of the decade's great literary triumphs: magical, compassionate, wise, beautiful, and so very entertaining
—— Toronto StarRichly imaginative... The characters are memorable, the language swift, and the reader is touched by desire, friendship and love
—— Globe and MailRushdie is the great post-imperial Indian writer
—— Times Literary SupplementColours and landscapes are evoked in language that, at once lush and direct, is in itself a pleasure and a reminder that Malouf is also a poet of considerable talent
—— Aamer Hussein , IndependentHis writing here has a fine descriptive delicacy and sensory exactness that act as guarantees of the stories' truth and the authenticity of the experiences they embody
—— Tom Deveson , Sunday TimesMalouf deals with both the vast and the seemingly unimportant... He does it with biting wit, elegance and a rare, uncluttered honesty
—— Chris Dolan , Saturday HeraldPoignant and wonderful story...concentrates, without effort, all Malouf's themes...it needs to be read
—— ProspectJulian Barnes reminds us what an exhilarating experience it can be to read a really good critic.
—— Jane Shilling , Sunday TelegraphA compulsive page-turner.
—— Tim Adams , ObserverBarnes’s passion for his writers is infectious.
—— Ion Trewin , Sunday ExpressBlissfully intelligent.
—— Roger Lewis , Financial TimesThe temptation to turn away is powerful, but the rewards for resisting it are considerable. These essays combine a scholarly breadth of knowledge with a powerful sense of the absurdities of the creative life.
—— Jane Shilling , Sunday TelegraphThrough the Window is a wonderful and very interesting collection of essays that rewards close, and also measured, reading.
—— Brendan Wright , Nudge