Author:Susan Hill
In 'Need', Biddy longs to escape the noise and claustrophobia of the travelling circus she calls home, the chaotic family she shares her cramped quarters with, and the teasing, intimidating presence of Little Midge - the neighbour boy who spies on her. The lack of a plan and her attachment to the frail fortune-teller Rosa, is all that prevents Biddy from leaving. But when tragedy strikes, Biddy finds comfort in an unlikely figure.
In 'Moving messages', Didi is afflicted by a curious condition: 'poetic tinnitus', which causes poetic snippets to ricochet around her mind at all moments. Despite this, she feels content with her lot, living in the country and making quilts to forge a living. She is happy - or is she? When Didi visits a glamorous old school companion in London, her self-doubt flares up, but she soon begins to see the cracks beneath the perfect veneer of her friend's life.
Part of the Storycuts series, these two short stories were previously published in the collection The Boy Who Taught the Beekeeper to Read.
Exquisite...these stories sparkle with the fire of real diamonds.
—— The TimesContemporary Indian fiction writers are among the finest in the world, and Desai at her best, as she is throughout this collection, has deservedly won her place alongside them.
—— Irish TimesUnsentimental, dazzling, funny and achingly sad.
—— Literary ReviewAll her stories are full of a confidence in human nature that is a rarity and a pleasure to encounter.
—— The SpectatorAnita Desai is one of the most brilliant and subtle writers ever to have described the meeting of eastern and western culture.
—— Alison LurieSpine-chilling twists and turns - Graham Greene eat your heart out
—— TatlerDarien Dogs is a bullishly confident and vivacious collection
—— Time OutBeautifully paced and pitched
—— IndependentThese stories are shored up with sentences and paragraphs that demand immediate re-reading for their cleverness and warmth…This party is well worth attending
—— IndependentThis collection shows a writer quietly growing in style, perception and grace. She conveys to the reader that rare ability to see completely into someone else’s head
—— SpectatorAccomplished ... confident
—— Sunday TimesThe ghost of Katherine Mansfield hovers lightly over these deceptively delicate snapshots which zero in on the much maligned territory of the domestic and make it new and vital again
—— Metro