Status
Available
Genres
Publication
Europa Editions (2014), Edition: 1St Edition, 336 pages
Description
The stories in this collection showcase Gardam's stylistic versatility and psychological insight. Throughout the collection she probes the inner lives, secret desires, and hidden pasts of her characters.
User reviews
LibraryThing member froxgirl
My favorite writer in what I am afraid might be her swan song, as she is quite elderly (though sharp and funny when I heard her at a Brookline Booksmith reading for her last novel in the "Old Filth" series).
These stories are all of a different tone: mostly character driven but with some fanciful
All of them are twinkling gems. It is hard to describe the delight of falling into a warm bed with this large collection during a week of unceasing snow.
Jane Gardam is an absolute master of truth telling of human hearts, especially the very old and very young. Grab any one of her numerous collections and novels and get started! There might be a dreaded end to her works in sight.
These stories are all of a different tone: mostly character driven but with some fanciful
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plots. My favorites are "The Dixie Girls", with V., Vi, May, and Nell, as lifelong buddies and the surprising end of their friendship, and "Telegony", a trilogy of love tales gained and lost in Cremona, Italy and Rickmansworth, England - by a mother and daughter.All of them are twinkling gems. It is hard to describe the delight of falling into a warm bed with this large collection during a week of unceasing snow.
Jane Gardam is an absolute master of truth telling of human hearts, especially the very old and very young. Grab any one of her numerous collections and novels and get started! There might be a dreaded end to her works in sight.
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LibraryThing member CarltonC
As Hilary Mantel is quoted on the cover as saying “sharp, humane, generous and wonderfully funny.” These are stories from an England (and colonies) that was disappearing even as the stories were written. An England of blurring class divisions, changing social manners and imperial retreat, but
My favourite is "The Dixie Girls", with V., Vi, May, and Nell, as lifelong acquaintances and the surprising end of their friendship.
Of course, there are the short stories “Old Filth” that blossomed into the series of novels and other short stories including “The People on Privilege Hill”, which I loved, but am unsure whether this reaction is because I have read the novels.
“The Boy who turned into a Bike” is different from her normal stories, reminding me of an Ali Smith story (and Ovid’s Metamorphoses), although the easily readable voice is the same.
Relaxing and rather wonderful.
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shot through with humour.My favourite is "The Dixie Girls", with V., Vi, May, and Nell, as lifelong acquaintances and the surprising end of their friendship.
Of course, there are the short stories “Old Filth” that blossomed into the series of novels and other short stories including “The People on Privilege Hill”, which I loved, but am unsure whether this reaction is because I have read the novels.
“The Boy who turned into a Bike” is different from her normal stories, reminding me of an Ali Smith story (and Ovid’s Metamorphoses), although the easily readable voice is the same.
Relaxing and rather wonderful.
Show Less
Awards
Language
Original language
English
Original publication date
2014
Physical description
336 p.; 5.74 inches
ISBN
1609451996 / 9781609451998
Local notes
Fiction