'In this outstanding collection of stories, David Malouf is at his best... Beautiful writing' Observer
David Malouf is the internationally acclaimed author of novels including The Great World (winner of the Commonwealth Writers' prize and the Prix Femina Etranger), Remembering Babylon (shortlisted for the Booker Prize and winner of the IMPAC Dublin Literary Award), An Imaginary Life, Conversations at Curlow Creek, His most recent, Ransom, published in 2010, and his autobiographical classic 12 Edmondstone Street. His Collected Stories won the 2008 Australia-Asia Literary Award, and his recent story collections are Dream Stuff ('These stories are pearls' Spectator) and Every Move You Make ('Rare and luminous talent' Guardian). In 2008 Malouf was the Scottish Arts' Council Muriel Spark International Fellow. Born in 1934 in Brisbane, where he was brought up, he lives in Sydney.
"Remarkable for its range and unsettling dynamism...in their subtlety, power and poetic finesse they are as good as any being written" Sunday Times "A highly accomplished collection, and one that resonates in the mind long after the book is finished" Daily Telegraph "A remarkable achievement... These stories are pearls" Spectator "An excellent collection by any standard...a heart-warming book" Sunday Telegraph "Confirm[s] Malouf's stature as a writer of the very first order" Boston Book Review
In these nine beautiful and often brutal stories set in his native Australia, Malouf (Remembering Babylon; The Great World, and more) describes a precarious world in which the imagination, through dreams, is the only thing that can face down the losses of life. Almost all of the stories here are superb, evocative creations. Several portray early life lessons, but the majority of the tales take complex adult perspectives on how we handle life's cruelty. In "Sally's Story," a young woman, who learns the meaning of woe when she "marries" Vietnam G.I.s as a prostitute, returns home to rekindle her hope for a future; and in "Great Day," the collection's final and most deeply crafted work, the charismatic Tyler family celebrates their stoic patriarch's 72nd birthday. As a whole, the collection is like a tumultuous life: it reels through surprising turns of plot, alternating between moments on the brink of death in one story and loss of innocence in another, then presses on, redeemed only by the warmth of human feeling and a glimpse of the possible. Highly recommended for all libraries. [Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/00.]DRebecca Miller, "Library Journal" Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.
"Remarkable for its range and unsettling dynamism...in their subtlety, power and poetic finesse they are as good as any being written" Sunday Times "A highly accomplished collection, and one that resonates in the mind long after the book is finished" Daily Telegraph "A remarkable achievement... These stories are pearls" Spectator "An excellent collection by any standard...a heart-warming book" Sunday Telegraph "Confirm[s] Malouf's stature as a writer of the very first order" Boston Book Review
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