A vibrant tombola of stories...each a commute-friendly 20-or-so pages long.

An excellent mix of stories - some dark and mysterious, others heart-warming and thought-provoking.

Harris is an intriguing writer, so this is worth a punt, if only to savour the seasonal horror of the story about a house where it's Christmas all year round.

Strongly plotted and written in registers that are variously comical, sad and surreal...Best of all is 'Cookie', where delicious gluttony - Harris's forte - gathers a sharp note of menace.

Harris inhabits a world where fantasy and reality collide in a most inventive way to produce a series of delightful, bittersweet yarns.

Her writing is sensuous, radical and uncannily perceptive

India's finest writer in English

She is one of the best English language novelists of modern times

Ample proof of her pre-eminent brilliance in the short form…her acute probing of malfunctioning relationships are both provocative and highly entertaining

I found her stories just as hard to put down as I used to; and repeated exposure to them just makes one appreciate the artistry even more… Simpson keeps her eyes open to what is around her, as well as to what is within her characters. It's the kind of detail that makes us wish she would hurry up so that we can read her thoughts about what's going on right now, the precise contours of our present anxieties. I suspect that she will have much to say, and be able to say it very well

A compact insight into the acclaimed writers work

Simpson, to my mind, is one of the best contemporary chroniclers of womanhood that I’ve read. She manages to get under the skin of her characters in a way that makes you feel you know them and completely understand their anxieties, at each point in their lives

She’s a genius at noticing and listening

Unexpected tales, perfectly pitched…suggesting Simpson sprand fully formed when she began writing

The great thing about Helen Simpson – or one of the great things – is that she pins people down so beautifully…her phrases sparkle

Simpson's meticulous fragments of contemporary self-delusion make beautiful narrative shapes out of the ordinary horrors of domestic life