Book description
In 'The Most Beautiful Dress in the World', recovering
alcoholic Harriet steps out into the garden of her grey, dilapidated
house on an autumn day. It is daughter Miranda's first day at Fashion
College, and Harriet is determined to make the most of the peace and
quiet. However, when good intentions go awry, Harriet's initial
optimism disintegrates into a caustic mixture of despair and
self-loathing, building to a terrible and violent crescendo.
In 'Cardboard City', Stella and Vanessa are young sisters who live
in the shadow of their hated stepfather. They escape his overbearing
presence for an afternoon of Christmas shopping in central London,
where Stella can't help wistfully searching for their estranged real
father in a nearby bar. The crowded streets of the city soon exhaust
their money and patience, and they decide to return home, but not
before Vanessa spies a familiar face on an escalator at the station .
. .
Part of the Storycuts series, these two stories were previously
published in the collection The Atmospheric Railway.
Shena Mackay was born in Edinburgh. She is the author of four
previous collections of stories -
Babies in Rhinestones
,
Dreams of Dead Women's Handbags
,
The Laughing Academy
and
The World's Smallest Unicorn
. Her novels include
Dunedin
,
The Orchard on Fire
(which was shortlisted for the 1996 Booker Prize),
The Artist's Widow
and
Heligoland
(which was shortlisted for the 2003 Orange Prize).
