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(More customer reviews)Between 1964 and 2000 the great British novelist Margaret Drabble published 14 short stories. They are collected here for the first time and organized chronologically by date of publication, although it's suggested in the introduction that this is not necessarily the order in which they were written.
American readers will be treated to some interesting glimpses into the kinds of turmoil that's really going on behind some of those stiff upper lip English exteriors: a groom on his honeymoon in Morocco who'd rather starve than deign to ask if those tasty snacks he and his wife crave are included in the high price of drinks at their hotel or cost extra... an insecure teenager on a climbing date who's about to keel over from hunger and exhaustion but would never dream of suggesting they take a break and open the picnic basket...a much admired TV presenter whose "happy" marriage is sheer hell and whose gynecologist has just given her the very worst kind of news, who'll put on her smile and go on with her scheduled speech to her kids' school while blood runs down her legs and into her boots. Other character studies here include tales of people having extra-marital affairs, people considering having extra-marital affairs, people at parties pretending to have a good time, an unfortunate encounter between a mom out shopping for her beloved son's birthday present and a pair of do-gooders, a widow who leaves town immediately after the funeral so nobody will see how thrilled she is to be free of her hypercritical husband....
And...ta da! For fans of Jane Austen and "Persuasion" (although neither is ever mentioned and the academic who wrote the introduction to this book doesn't seem to have made the connection): there are two stories involving visits to Kellynch Hall. One tells of a young actress who rents the Kellynch Dower House and finds herself attracted to two modern day Elliot men; the other, the story of an English teacher nearing retirement who goes for a wander in Wordsworth-Coleridge territory only to sustain an injury and find herself at Kellynch as the guest of a modern day Anne Elliot.
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