Author:Salley Vickers
From Salley Vickers, bestselling author of Miss Garnet's Angel, comes The Boy Who Could See Death, an enchanting and unsettling collection of short stories.
Eli is an ordinary boy with an extraordinary gift. It will shape the course of his whole life but, he learns the hard way, he must keep it hidden from those who know him best. Seeing death is a mixed blessing.
Eli is not the only one defying the world's expectations of him. Cousin Francesca, a charming spinster and a favourite with the children, is harbouring kleptomaniac tendencies. Sarah Palliser, living alone next to a ramshackle graveyard, is more scared of the small box under her stairs than the ghosts outside her window. Meanwhile dreamy artist Nan is nursing a growing obsession with wolves in Britain and the recently widowed Frances finds herself inventing an exotic imaginary boyfriend to pass the time.
Push through an unassuming front door on an unremarkable street or peer into the glowing fluorescent windows of an urban office block and within you'll find strange and unforgettable scenes, normal people caught in situations they do not quite comprehend...
Salley Vickers is a master of the uncanny and the unexpected. In this collection of eleven remarkable stories, she explores bereavement and betrayal, closely guarded secrets and common gossip, long-overdue endings and decidedly strange beginnings. Each story is perfectly formed: a snapshot of a total stranger, a fleeting glimpse of lives spiced with a little something extra.
Effortlessly conjures surprises, brilliantly realized, pricelessly entertaining
—— ObserverTremendous, unsettling, brilliantly creepy
—— IndependentA compelling and often startling collection of stories. Vickers is a storyteller of note and grace
—— Daily ExpressTense and mysterious
—— The LadyThe 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
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