A Nobel laureate struggles to write a convincing suicide note; a hobo sings of hope in the darkest hours after the Grenfell disaster; in a strange post-death waiting room, Anna Karenina and Emma Bovary exchange confidences, and a scientist finally discovers the appalling truth about a boyhood friendship. Unpredictable, haunting, with a streak of black humour, this collection ranges across the world, from Petersburg to Guyana, Syria to London, Argentina to Edinburgh. Its diverse characters are caught up in wars or revolution, escaping the past or finally returning to confront it.
Pauline Melville is a British Guyanese writer who has worked at the Royal Court Theatre, the National Theatre and in television, film and cabaret. Her first novel, The Ventriloquist's Tale, won the Whitbread First Novel Award. Other literary awards include the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Macmillan Silver Pen Award, a Commonwealth Writers' Prize and the Guyana Prize for Literature. Salman Rushdie has described her as 'one of the few genuinely original writers to emerge in recent years'. She was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 2018.
Title: The Master of Chaos and Other Fables
Author: Pauline Melville
ISBN: 9781913207540
Binding:
Publisher: Sandstone Press Ltd
Publication Date: 2021-07-01
Number of Pages: 208
Weight: 0.3201 kg
'In this virtuoso performance, Pauline Melville shows us a world in upheaval, and reminds us that that's where we live.'
-- Salman Rushdie
A collection of 14 brilliant, diverse and utterly intriguing short stories, laced through with dark humour.
-- Ron McKay * The Herald *
Darkly funny, these stories are political and bold, refusing to shy away from dictators, occupations or revolutions.
* Mslexia *
Terrific read beautifully written.
-- Roger Graef OBE
AMAZING.
-- Oliver Double, comedian
I enjoyed this short story collection, though can't put my finger on exactly why. Well worth a read.
-- Jacob Aron (Editor, New Scientist)
Fresh and totally absorbing... The perfect read for yet another globally turbulent summer.
-- Paul Bradshaw * Ancient to Future *
A compelling and unique short story collection.
-- Lou * readers_retreat *
