Book description
After arriving in the cold, grey city of Vldansk, a lone Englishman
spends his days battling hunger, unable to stomach the greasy local
'delicacies' - that is, until he discovers Antonyin's. But his joy at
having found the inviting cafe is tarnished when he is haunted by a
strange, unattractive woman who comes in nightly, seeking him out.
When she finally puts forward to the man a startling proposition, he
is repulsed and appalled; yet it prompts an unshakeable idea to take
root in his mind.
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously
published in the collection The Boy Who Taught the Beekeeper to Read.
Susan Hill's novels and short stories have won the Whitbread,
Somerset Maugham and John Llewellyn Rhys awards and been shortlisted
for the Booker Prize. She is the author of over fifty books, including
the five previous Serrailler crime novels, The Various Haunts of
Men, The Pure in Heart, The Risk of Darkness, The
Vows of Silence and The Shadows in the Street. The play
adapted from her famous ghost story, The Woman in Black, has been
running in the West End since 1989; it has also recently been made
into a film starring Daniel Radcliffe.
Susan Hill was born in Scarborough and educated at King's College
London. She is married to the Shakespeare scholar, Stanley Wells, and
they have two daughters. She lives in Gloucestershire, where she runs
her own small publishing firm, Long Barn Books.
