Stories: The Collected Short Fiction [Hardcover]

THE NEW YORK TIMES BOOK REVIEW EDITORS' CHOICE • A New Yorker Most Anticipated Book of the Year • A finely etched collection of short stories from the generous, category-defying imagination (New York Times Book Review) of Helen Garner, one of Australia's most beloved writers

Perceptive and virtuosic . . . . these visceral, incandescent stories treat us to Garner’s companionable brilliance.”—The New York Times Book Review

A woman sends postcards to a former lover from the idyllic Gold Coast. A chorus of hometown voices gossip about a wayward friend returned. A young girl discovers a hidden box of horrors.

Helen Garner is best known for her frank, unsparing, and intricate portraits of Australian life. Now, in Stories, comes the collected short fiction of a singular literary voice. These stories delve into the complexities of love and longing, of the pain, darkness, and joy of life, and all told with Garner's characteristic sharpness, honesty, and humor. Each one is a perfect piece, but together they showcase a rare talent and a master of many literary forms. Perceptive and virtuosic . . . . these visceral, incandescent stories treat us to Garner’s companionable brilliance.”
—The New York Times Book Review

Garner’s writing is salutary; if you’re heartsick or world-weary, you’ll feel better after a few pages of it.
—Los Angeles Review of Books

These stories also offer up the same brutal admissions that make up Garner’s novels—bold responses to questions of sex and desire and the limits of relatil³"