In these short stories it's the ordinary things that turn out to be most extraordinary: the history of a length of fabric, say, and a forgotten jacket. Two sisters quarrel over an inheritance and a new baby; a child awake in the night explores the familiar rooms of her home, strange in the dark...

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Bibliographic Details

Main Author:	Hadley, Tessa 1956- (Author)
Other Authors:	Hadley, Tessa
Format:	Book
Language:	English
Published:	London Jonathan Cape 2017
Subjects:	Short stories, English Short stories Anthologie
Summary:	In these short stories it's the ordinary things that turn out to be most extraordinary: the history of a length of fabric, say, and a forgotten jacket. Two sisters quarrel over an inheritance and a new baby; a child awake in the night explores the familiar rooms of her home, strange in the dark; a housekeeper caring for a helpless old man uncovers secrets from his past. The first steps into a turning point and a new life are made so easily and carelessly: the stories focus in on crucial moments of transition, often imperceptible to the protagonists. A girl accepts a lift in a car with some older boys, or a young woman reads the diaries she comes across when she's housesitting. Small acts have large consequences, and some of them reverberate across decades; things fantasised in private can reach out to affect other people, for better and worse. An older woman recovering from serious illness speaks to a lonely young man on a train; an old friend brings bad news to a dinner party; a schoolteacher in the throes of a painful affair in 1914 has mixed feelings about her pupils' suffragette-craze. The real things that happen to people, the accidents that befall them, are every bit as mysterious as their longings and their dreams
Physical Description:	214 Seiten 23 cm
ISBN:	1910702889 9781910702888