Thunderstruck & Other Stories (Folio Prize Nominee)
by Elizabeth McCracken
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Pub Date 5 Jun 2014 | Archive Date 15 Feb 2015
Random House UK, Vintage Publishing | Jonathan Cape
Description
A brilliant new collection of short fiction from the National Book Award finalist and author of The Giant’s House.
From the author of the beloved novel The Giant's House - finalist for the National Book Award - comes a beautiful new story collection, her first in twenty years. Laced through with humour, empathy, and rare and magical descriptive powers these nine vibrant stories navigate the fragile space between love and loneliness. In 'Property', a young scholar, grieving the sudden death of his wife, decides to refurbish the Maine rental house they were to share together by removing his landlord's possessions. In 'Peter Elroy: A Documentary by Ian Casey', the household of a successful filmmaker is visited years later by his famous first subject, whose trust he betrayed. And in the unforgettable title story, a family makes a quixotic decision to flee to Paris for a summer, only to find their lives altered in an unimaginable way by their teenage daughter's risky behaviour.
In Elizabeth McCracken's universe, heartache is always interwoven with strange, charmed moments of joy - an unexpected conversation with small children, the gift of a parrot with a bad French accent - that remind us of the wonder and mystery of being alive. Thunderstruck & Other Stories shows this inimitable writer working at the full height of her powers.
A Note From the Publisher
UK edition – available to read in UK, Commonwealth excluding Canada.
Advance Praise
These nine stories are filled with longing, guilt and violence. - New York Times
Jewelled
and barbed with the beauty and brutality of real life, these are
sentences of perfect weight and understanding. There are no fillers
here, no stories that disappoint: the nine coalesce into something rare
and understatedly breathtaking. Like the missing who haunt these
stories, Thunderstruck is unforgettable. - Observer
Wonderful, moving tales. - Financial Times
An electric blend of hilarity and despair. - O, The Oprah Magazine
[A] powerful collection. - Independent on Sunday
McCracken
writes in lilting, contained prose, and imbues her narratives with wry
humour and the soothing resonance of fairy tales… An unforgettable
collection that should be irredeemably sad but, in fact, is strangely
life-affirming. - Sunday Times
Praise for Elizabeth McCracken:
‘Extraordinary.’
Alice Sebold
Praise for An Exact Replica of a Figment of My Imagination:
‘A grief memoir that fuses the immediacy readers crave from the genre with all the reflective, consoling depth of fiction.’
Observer
Praise for Niagara Falls All Over Again:
‘A
book about love, about the alchemy that attention can perform, about
the complexities of giving and receiving. Compassionate, perceptive,
generous, this novel shines. It is also as compelling as anything I've
read in years. Once I picked it up, I simply could not put it down.’
John Burnside, Scotsman
‘Deserves
a standing ovation-as beautiful a portrait of a very peculiar marriage
as you'll see in print-seductive-sublime storytelling.’
Independent on Sunday
Praise for The Giant’s House:
‘The most original and enchanting romance I have read in a long time.’
Erica Wagner, The Times
‘Every
so often a novel comes along which transcends whimsy with the beauty of
its writing. Elizabeth McCracken's small masterpiece is one of these.’
Guardian
Marketing Plan
‘McCracken’s
short stories are like no others. Her distinctive voice, her slightly
askew manner of looking at the world, her mix of mordant humour and
tenderness, her sense of life’s ironies, and the jolt of electricity at
the end of each tale make her work arresting and memorable. In this
collection of nine short narratives… McCracken transforms life’s dead
ends into transformational visions.’ Publishers Weekly (starred)
‘Extraordinary’ Alice Sebold
The author will be in the UK for publication
We sold over 20,000 copies of The Giant’s House
Available Editions
| EDITION | Hardcover |
| ISBN | 9780224099523 |
| PRICE | £16.99 (GBP) |
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