Book description
From Doris Lessing, Winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, one of
her finest collections of short stories.
Doris Lessing is unrivalled in her ability to capture the truth from
the complexities of relationships and the stories in this wonderful
collection have lost none of their original power.
Two marriages, both middle class, liberal and 'rather literary', share
a shocking flaw, a secret 'cancer'. A young, beautiful woman from a
working class family is courted by a very eligible, very upmarket man.
An ageing actress falls in love for the first time but can only express
her feelings through her stage performances because her happily married
lover is unobtainable. A dedicated, lifelong rationalist is tempted,
after the death of his father, by the comforts of religious belief.
In this magnificent collection of stories, which spans four decades,
Doris Lessing's unique gift for observation, her wit, her compassion and
remarkable ability to illuminate the complexities of human life are all
remarkably displayed. 'What do you say about Doris Lessing? She has
shaped the attitudes of a whole generation of women; she has defined and
punctured masculine pretensions and has torn strips off liberal
double-think. This collection is, it goes without saying, a classic.'
Mary Hope, Spectator
'Intense and tender, valuable and drily humorous stories with streaks
of gold. Dazzling.' The Times
'Doris Lessing is the great novelist of the unspoken thing, of the part
a husband and wife cannot tell each other, of the little things that
people are reluctant to talk about. She seems to know everything and to
forgive it, or, in the overview, to see nothing to forgive. Her work is
suffused with a calm charity that reassures, heals and encourages.'
Diane Johnson, New York Times Doris Lessing was the winner of the 2007
Nobel Prize for Literature and is one of the most important writers of
the second half of the twentieth century. Her first novel, 'The Grass is
Singing' was published in 1950, and since then her international
reputation has flourished. Among her other celebrated novels are 'The
Golden Notebook', 'The Summer Before the Dark', and 'Memoirs of a
Survivor'. Her most recent works include two volumes of autobiography,
'Under my Skin' and 'Walking in the Shade', her most recent novel is
'The Cleft'.
