Book description
Roy and Muriel are the retired champions of their local community:
ardent charity fundraisers, enthusiastic volunteers, cheerful adopters
of maimed or abandoned animals, and proud all-round do-gooders. But
something as simple as a new pair of glasses brings everything into
unpleasant focus for Roy, as suddenly he sees the reality of his
decaying home, his corpulent and ageing wife and his own sunken
features, as if through new eyes. Disturbed and shaken, Roy's
darkening thoughts turn to the root of his obsessive philanthropy.
Part of the Storycuts series, this story was 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).
