The first paperback edition of a selection of Edna O'Brien's finest short stories.
The twenty-nine stories in this volume include all nine from 'Returning'; four interrelated stories that have previously appeared in 'The New Yorker'; and the author's own selections from 'The Love Object', 'A Scandalous Woman' and 'Mrs Reinhardt'.
Most of the stories are set either in the villages and countryside of western Ireland or London. Love and loss are the prevailing themes; the strong ties between teacher and student, husband and wife, inseparable girlfriends, and mother and son are ultimately destroyed in the crucible of time and fallibility. There are also stories of sexual intimacy, with Edna O'Brien's inimitable stamp, and those of social alienation, in this wide-ranging anthology.
