Enthusiasm and intelligence: these are the essential qualities of the critic. Calvino, himself a novelist of rare quality, possessed both generously. This is a book to read for itself, and also because it will send you back to other books to read, either again in a new way, or for the first time... Superb

This volume itself is a classic book at bedtime, a seductive invitation to forgotten opportunities or rereading

A master’s guidance on everything from the ancient Greeks to Ernest Hemingway, proving that “a classic is a book that has never finished saying what it has to say.” This timeless description applies to Calvino’s own books too

A collection of stories it would be hard to forget

Galloway's ear for dialogue is astonishing, almost musical

Scottish writer Janie Galloway has a reputation for going where more polite writers fear to tread..this includes some of the author's most distinctive work...this original collection will wake up the most jaded palate.

Galloway can evoke a life, a relationship, just about the whole human condition, within ten brilliantly written pages

Affectingly raw and full of surprises

Spikey, bleak stories you won't forget ... poignant stories, all of which stand immediate rereading

Her stories are suggestively musical examples of rich, Glaswegian gothic

At last, Galloway's stories are back in print in one collection...savagely accurate, engaging and funny, she is one of our great contemporary writers

A testament to the sharp eye and shrewd brain of Janice Galloway, one of Scotland's finest writers

A writer of passion and virtuosity