Author:Mavis Gallant,Francine Prose
This generous collection of fifty-two stories selected from across her prolific career by the author, is preceded by a preface in which she discusses the sources of her art.
With irony and an unfailing eye for the telling detail, Gallant weaves stories of spare complexity, often pushing the boundaries of the form in boldly unconventional directions. The settings in the COLLECTED STORIES range from Paris to Berlin to Switzerland, from the Riviera to the Côte d'Azur, and her characters are almost all exiles of one sort or another, as she herself was the most of her expatriate life.
The wit and precision of her prose, combined with her expansive view of humanity, provide a rare and deep reading pleasure. With breathtaking control and compression, Gallant delivers a whole life, a whole world, in each story.
One of the most brilliant story writers in the language.
—— The New YorkerGallant's talent is as versatile and witty as it is somber and empathetic.
—— John UpdikeFunny, exacting, and stern... Gallant's chronicles of internal and external exile are a fitting tribute to a diasporic century.
—— The GuardianFox's prose is poised and confident, a well-honed tool with which to treat his delicate subject matter.
—— Rob Doyle , Sunday TimesThe best of these stories are very good indeed ... While there are few happy souls in these arresting stories, the reader can find consolation in Fox's supple prose and frequently subtle insights
—— Irish IndependentFox joins a band of new talented Irish short story writers, like Colin Barrett and Mary Costello, with this assured debut collection
—— RTE GuideThese are thoughtful, well-told stories that bring home how hard it can be to belong
—— HeraldImpressive ... First-person narrators, their voices deceptively casual and conversational, draw the unsuspecting reader in before they strike. Against a backdrop of ordinary settings and pared-down realism, the arresting images, when they come, have an explosive force
—— The LadyA superb collection ... compassionate and knowing
—— Irish ExaminerOutstanding
—— Hot PressA remarkable new talent ... He is able to tread so lightly that we only realise we have been cleverly punched in the solar plexus after we finish the last line
—— Dermot Bolger , Irish Mail on SundaySam Miller's memoir Fathers is ostensibly about a family secret. But its true subject is a family silence… The book is about ways to be a father, but also, more generally, about ways to be a man, from the 1950s to now. Should you be an intellectual, and write letters full of irony and wit? How camp are you allowed to be, or how fearful of homoeroticism? Must you be good at manual labour? Where do you stand in relation to class or entitlement? Should you be more interested in football than you are?
—— William Leith , Evening StandardMorrissy has been compared to Joyce and Chekov. She’s brilliant.
—— iMary Morrissy’s persuasive stories sidle up to you quietly and before you know it have you wrapped up in their embrace… We meet people on the edge… in this resonant collection from an accomplished writer.
—— Donal O'Donoghue , RTE GuideAn outstanding collection…She is a true heir to Chekhov and the great writers
—— Éilís Ní Dhuibhne , Irish Times