Are You She? (Showcase) [Paperback]

Lesley Glaister (Editor)

Book Description

Series: Showcase | Publication Date: June 13, 2005

Award-winning novelist Lesley Glaister presents a selection of stories by four accomplished women writers - two exceptional short stories from each. Imaginative, intriguing stories ranging from wintertime in small-town Canada to a family settling in 1960s Nigeria; the strange intensity of a mother-daughter relationship in contemporary Birmingham to the shocked silence of New York in autumn 2001. Four talented short story writers explore themes of anger, love, isolation and change. With author photos by young music scene photographer Mark Johnson. Mandt Sutter's Lasiren evokes the other-worldly atmosphere of a young girl's growing up in Africa - a perceptive, gently comic story of how the spirit of the sea overcomes Sarah's fear of the immense Atlantic. Polly Wright's Shropshire Gold remembers the tangle of a girl's longings - and how they churn into a middle-aged woman's resentments when she rediscovers the tarnished white boots that once represented her teenage dreams of escape. Sidura Ludwig's sensual, tenderly optimistic Interlake Evergreens pinpoints late love in a prairie gift shop. A new future opens up for Cathy and David as they balance guilt and hopefulness at a watershed in their relationship. Myra Connell's Hero tackles powerful American themes - the intimate repercussions of world events. A starkly topical story which explores the significance of love and loss against a backdrop of 9/11 terror

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Lesley Glaister won both a Somerset Maugham Award and a Betty Trask Award for the novel Honour Thy Father. She is also the author of Limestone and Clay, Nina Todd Has Gone, Now You See Me, Partial Eclipse, The Private Parts of Women, and Trick or Treat.

Product Details

• Paperback: 138 pages
• Publisher: Tindal St Pr Ltd (June 13, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0954130391
• ISBN-13: 978-0954130398
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 6.7 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #7,583,906 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Are You She?, November 18, 2004

By 

Helene S - See all my reviews

This review is from: Are You She? (Showcase) (Paperback)

Are You She? is a stunning collection of short stories brought together by Lesley Glaister. It brings together a whole range of themes from lost loves to fear of water, through to the tragic events of September 11th 2001.

Myra Connell's HERO is a moving evocation of the aftermath of the events of September 11th 2001. Told through two voices, Connell shows the helpless feelings of a Mother towards her son who emerged from the rubble of the fallen towers and those of the son, clearing Ground Zero and how he is coping, or not, with the task assigned to him.

Connell evokes the feelings of a victim and his family in a realistic way that is entirely believable. It is not a sentimental story nor one of pity but simply wishes to express the feelings of regret and loss felt by all those connected with the attacks. The reader cares deeply about the fireman and understands his changed feelings about his split with his girlfriend in light of what happened to him on that day. The world has changed in his eyes and yet he does not know quite what to do with himself in this new environment.

This is the strong point of the collection; all the stories offer windows into people's lives but they do not attempt to explain these lives, the explanation is up to the reader. This is the great joy of short stories in general. The reader is not patronized by explanations of a character's behaviour; it is simply left to them to decide.

Polly Wright's stories emphasise that it is up to the reader to make judgements about characters rather than for the author to spell it out. Finding Alteration is a story of regret and missed opportunity, feelings all of us have felt at some point in our lives. Wright presents the situation of a love affair from school and describes a meeting of the two people years later. There is a sense of regret in one of the characters more than the other and there is the suggestion that the two have missed the opportunity of being together. However it is left to the reader to decide whether this is good or bad thing and how one should cope with life's regrets. Wright shows us a different way of coping in her other story Shropshire Gold.

Are You She? celebrates all that is good about short stories and the brief glimpses of life offered by the authors allow the reader to delve into other people's lives for a short time but to remember them long after the window is closed.