For the first time, all of Carol Shields's remarkable short stories are gathered together in one volume. This definitive anthology contains the previously unpublished story "Segue," her last work.
In these stories Carol Shields combines the dazzling virtuosity and wise maturity that won so many readers to her prize-winning novels. With her exquisite eye for detail and her eagerness to explore the most fundamental of relationships and the wildest of coincidences, she illuminates the absurdities and miracles that grace all of our lives.
Playful, charming, acutely observed, and generous of spirit, this collection of stories will delight and enchant readers the world over.
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The stories are truly remarkable, combining great humor with poignant observation--an exploration of the idiosyncracies of our friends, lovers, spouses, and children, and the gift of being a true storyteller. She glories in writing about the mundane: grocery shopping, ballet lessons, mowing the lawn; and in the quirky, as in a young boy's grandfather who becomes a "naturist," a grandmother who was North America's Turkey Queen in Ramona, California, and wore a dress made completely of turkey feathers. Her writing is full of wonder and serendipity: "Roger, aged thirty, employed by the Gas Board, is coming out of a corner grocers carrying a mango in his left hand. He went in to buy an apple and came out with this." Now, what will turn out to be important here: Roger's age, his employment, why the mango instead of the apple, and, is he left-handed? Carol Shields will sort it all out for the reader, in the most enjoyable way possible. While her stories are accessible, they are never trivial. Each one is finely crafted, illuminating something about a person, a relationship, an event.
In "Segue," Max and Jane begin their Sunday morning buying bread and flowers; he, an accomplished novelist, she, a writer of sonnets. They proceed to luncheon at their daughter's house, return home to conversation, reading, roast chicken, and evening reverie. Jane reflects upon her aging body: "My aging is me too, as well as the subject of my current sonnet. Only two years ago the idea of aging belonged to the whole world. It was background. I hadn't been touched by it then. Now I am." Touched by age and encroaching illness, Carol Shields wrote one last marvelous story.
In her foreword, Margaret Atwood, who visited Shields only two months before she died, writes: "We did not speak of her illness. She preferred to be treated as a person who was living, not one who was dying." This attitude of mind is reflected in the fabric of all her work, in its clarity, its appreciation of the absurd, and in her understanding of the human condition. --Valerie Ryan
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Book Description Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Collected Stories This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. Seller Inventory # 7719-9780007193752
Book Description Condition: Good. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. A tan to the pages. Seller Inventory # wbb0025027077
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Used; Good. Dispatched, from the UK, within 48 hours of ordering. This book is in good condition but will show signs of previous ownership. Please expect some creasing to the spine and/or minor damage to the cover. Aged book. Tanned pages and age spots, however, this will not interfere with reading. Damaged cover. The cover of is slightly damaged for instance a torn or bent corner. Seller Inventory # CHL9475667
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Very Good. This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. Seller Inventory # 6545-9780007193752
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Very Good. Fourth Estate [Published date: 2004]. Soft cover, 593 pp. First Fourth Estate printing, with full number line. Very good/ NO dust jacket. Black remainder mark on bottom edge. Illustrated paper covers have very light bumping to edges and corners and light overall rubbing. Binding tight (NO spine crease). Pages crisp clean and bright with no markings. NOT Ex-library. Seller Inventory # 20120901008
Book Description Paperback. Thick 8vo. Very good+. Seller Inventory # 055650
Book Description Paperback. Condition: Good. 593 pages. A collection of short works features definitive pi eces written throughout the course of the author's career, includ ing the previously unpublished Segue, a portrayal of a sonnet wri ter who faces an unknown darkness. Seller Inventory # 524e
Book Description Paperback. For the first time, all of this late, great writer. Seller Inventory # 7850280
Book Description Trade Paperback. Condition: Near Fine. First Edition. This is the first Australian edition. Size: Octavo (standard book size). 593 pages. Text body is clean, and free from previous owner annotation, underlining and highlighting. Binding is tight, covers and spine fully intact. No foxing in this copy. All edges clean, neat and free of foxing. A fine unread copy. This book is available and ready to be shipped. A collection of short works features definitive pieces written throughout the course of the author's career, including the previously unpublished "Segue," a portrayal of a sonnet writer who faces an unknown darkness. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilogram. Category: Fiction; Short Stories; 2000s; ISBN: 0007193750. ISBN/EAN: 9780007193752. Pictures of this item not already displayed here available upon request. Inventory No: 9384. Seller Inventory # 9384