July 1, 2021
Drawing from five previous collections, with a few pieces appearing in book form for the first time, this collection spans more than 30 years' worth of work from Booker Prize winner Byatt. Settings range from a British candy factory to a Turkish bazaar to a fairytale castle, with characters including a middle-aged client raging at the hairdresser's and a child who may or may not exist. Just announced; David Mitchell writes the introduction.
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August 15, 2021
A career-spanning selection of short stories from one of England's distinctive voices. Byatt is known for her novels--especially the Booker Prize-winning Possession (1990)--but the short story format suits her beautifully as well. She favors adjective-spangled cascades of images, excavates the dictionary for rare specimens, and sends iambs and anapests cavorting across the paragraphs. A little of this can go a long way (though, as the novels demonstrate, sometimes a lot can go even further). These stories, selected from periodicals and previous collections, present compact versions of her favored themes, preoccupations, strengths, and occasionally weaknesses, and they're short enough that her densely decorative prose rarely grows wearisome. As readers of Possession and Angels and Insects (1993) know, she has an affinity for the Victorian era; in "Precipice-Encurled," an ambitious young painter falls in love with the young lady he's sketching before losing more than just his heart as he pursues a visual idea inspired by one of Monsieur Monet's new paintings. Disdaining the austerity of modernism, Byatt leaps forward to postmodernism, with its framing devices and art about art. In "Raw Material," for instance, a pair of exquisite descriptions of Victorian housework--"How We Used To Black-Lead Stoves" and "Wash Day"--are enclosed in a semisatirical melodrama about a creative writing teacher and his students. Many of the stories contain jeweler's-loupe views of artists and art, whether the artists in question are sculptors, painters, or cooks. Many of the stories address classic feminist questions about women's work: To what extent are women free to choose how to express their creativity, and how is their work valued? Not all of the stories have aged well; in "The Chinese Lobster," Byatt's signature lyrical exoticism is not so charming when she applies it to the proprietors of a Chinese restaurant and the food they serve, and a Dean of Women Students unquestioningly accepting the word of a Distinguished Visiting Professor over that of the graduate student who has accused him of rape feels rather different in the post-Me Too era than it must have to its 20th-century readers. Some of the best stories in the collection are fairy tales or fantasies; in "A Stone Woman," for example, a woman in mourning for her mother turns to stone--literally. Short works representative of Byatt's beautifully evocative prose.
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October 4, 2021
These stories by Booker winner Byatt (Possession), three of which are previously uncollected, offer a scintillating look at three decades of the author’s work. Her stories transcend genre and stylistic limits, traversing through landscapes fantastical and real, as they bewitch, unnerve, and comfort the reader. “The Djinn in the Nightingale’s Eye” blends the natural and supernatural worlds when a scholar falls in love with a djinn she released from a mysterious bottle from an Istanbul bazaar. “Dolls’ Eyes” oscillates between the real and unreal too, as it follows a schoolteacher with a large collection of dolls, some of which are alive. In a similar vein, “The Lucid Dreamer” presents a man for whom real life and dreams begin to mesh as he struggles to regain his ability to dream while processing the loss of his beloved. Grief resurfaces as a theme in “A Stone Woman,” which blends fantasy and Scandinavian myth with the story of a woman who turns to stone after her mother’s death. “Racine and the Tablecloth” is equally effective in the realist mode, detailing the power dynamics between a student and the vulturine headmistress at an all-girls’ boarding school. Each story showcases Byatt’s exquisite prose and her wide-ranging mastery of the short story form. For the uninitiated, this makes for a perfect entry point.
Starred review from December 1, 2021
This mega-selection of stories by Booker Prize winner Byatt (Possession) ranges from contemporary to folk and fairy tale and often blends them together. For instance, tales of Scheherazade and Gilgamesh mix with Turkish history and myth in the long central story, "The Djinn in the Nightingale's Eye," as well-known "narratologist" Gillian Perholt attends a conference in Turkey. As the narrative moves from Ankara to Ephesus, Gillian eventually winds up in a bazaar, where her purchase of a dusty glass bottle leads to a dazzling outcome. From the opener, "The July Ghost," in which a new tenant is the only one capable of seeing his landlady's dead son; to "Dolls' Eyes," in which a schoolteacher has an unnatural affection for her large doll collection; to the title story, about the confessional relationship women have with their hairdressers, Byatt holds readers in thrall. The darker folktales offer up all manner of intriguing creatures: an enchanted fish at the bottom of a swimming pool, a delicate princess who can't survive without the cold, and a grieving woman whose body slowly turns to stone. VERDICT Come for the promise of a rich collection by a master storyteller; stay for the magical mystery tour. The generous introduction by David Mitchell is the icing on the cake.--Barbara Love, formerly at Kingston Frontenac P.L., Ont.
Copyright 2021 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.