Piranha To Scurfy And Other Stories

Oct 26, 2024 12:33 PM

Author:Ruth Rendell

The long title story is about a man whose life, in a sense, is a book. There are shelves in every room, packed with titles which Ambrose Ribbon has checked pedantically for mistakes of grammar and fact. Life for Ribbon, without his mother now, is lonely and obsessive, filled with psychoses and neuroses, with the ever-present possibility of a descent into violent madness. He still keeps his mother's dressing table exactly as she had left it, the wardrobe door always open so that her clothes can be seen inside, and her pink silk nightdress on the bed. There is one book too that he associates particularly with her - volume VIII of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, Piranha to Scurfy. It marked a very significant moment in their relationship. In the other stories, Ruth Rendell deals with a variety of themes, some macabre, some vengeful, some mysterious, all precisely observed. The second novella, High Mysterious Union, explores a strange, erotic universe in a dream-like corner of rural England, and illustrates very atmospherically what range Ruth Rendell has as a writer, expanding beyond her famous sphere of crime writing.

Reviews

Rendell is a great storyteller who knows how to make sure that the reader has to turn the pages out of a desperate need to find out what is going to happen next

—— John Mortimer , Sunday Times

Plenty of style and many a wry reflection on the human condition ... Rendell's mission in these well-crafted short stories is ... to exhibit a cool skill in the telling of moral fables. This is serious entertainment

—— Frances Fyfield , Express

In her writing, horror does not shake its gory locks directly at us, but hovers on the periphery of our inner vision, hidden among the ordinary, the everyday

—— Jane Shilling , Sunday Telegraph

Rendell's mastery of the difficult short story genre is unsurpassed ... Her mesmerising capacity to shock, chill and disturb is unmatched

—— The Times

Rendell is unrivalled at depicting psychologically warped people and at creating unease through the simplest things. This is another triumph

—— Observer

The Turn of the Screw is the most hopelessly evil story that we have ever read in any literature, ancient or modern

—— Independent

We are afraid of something unnamed, of something, perhaps, in ourselves... Henry James...can still make us afraid of the dark

—— Virginia Woolf

Dazzling ...These narrative snapshots are skilfully framed and in-focus, the language forthright and fresh

—— Time Out

This short story collection gives those new to her oeuvre a chance to delve into gems from her past...precociously vibrant

—— Melissa McClements , Financial Times

All the elements of Welsh's best work remain in tact here: the brilliant imagination, the phonetically-transcribed Scots dialect, the humour, the gritty realism

—— Woman's Way

What's striking about these early stories is that the thicker Welsh was steeped in the primordial goo of his Edinburgh Scots phonetics, the better the storytelling got

—— Alexander Linklater , Observer

As you would expect, the stories in this collection involve a certain amount of cultural tourism to the lower depths, undertaken with black humour... Welsh's relish for degradation covers up a strong sentimental streak

—— Victor Sebestyen , Sunday Times

Welsh's transcription of Scots dialect is brilliant... Welsh also has a fabulous sense of the absurd... The overall vibe of these stories is dark and grim. And fierily, fiercely funny

—— Brandon Robshaw , Independent on Sunday

A sparkling and adventurous writer

—— Dennis Potter

Previous Article：Collected Short Stories Volume 4 Next Article：The Yellow Wall-Paper, Herland, and Selected Writings

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