This is the first short story collection from an acclaimed novelist with a wide and loyal readership. All stories are written with Sue Gee's insight, precision and delicacy of style and tone. Poignant, haunting and immensely readable.
Many of the stories have won prizes, been published or broadcast; some are new, written especially for the collection. Several feature artists, and are set in the past in a rural England; others are contemporary: stories set in London or Europe, of love glimpsed, lost, or longed for. In Bratislava is the brief encounter between a lonely businessman and young student in the aftermath of communism. Two or three look at illness and mortality: in Last Fling , the title story, a dying woman places a lonely hearts ad. All these stories are written with Sue Gee's insight, precision and delicacy of style and tone. Her last novel, Reading in Bed (2007) was a Daily Mail Book Club Selection; her next will be published in 2012. Poignant and haunting, immensely readable, Last Fling is the perfect book between the two.
Sue Gee's stories are remarkable for their precision and economy - she establishes a character in a few lines, conjures up an entire situation with an allusion, an aside. She has that enviable quality of telling most by saying least - this is a lovely collection, sometimes sad, sometimes funny.
Penelope Lively
Irresistible … Last Fling - is about the unexpected nature of consolation … Other [stories] deal with crisis - a mother realises her husband is planning to leave her when their son finishes school, a woman agonises over whether a lifetime friend should become her lover. But all of them seem to be saying that only an honest understanding of the past provides the clue to a happier future.
Christina Appleyard, Daily Mail
A collection of stories from Sue Gee is something to celebrate. … Her writing has tenderness and generosity which shines through affectionate portrayals of eccentricity … Sue Gee is a consummate artist who writes from the heart and cheers and consoles the reader.
Shena Mackay
Author
About Sue Gee
Sue Gee is a novelist and short story writer who also teaches creative writing. She ran the MA Creative Writing Programme at Middlesex University and currently teaches at the Faber Academy. The Mysteries of Glass was long listed for the 2005 Orange Prize, and Reading in Bed was a Daily Mail Book Club Selection in 2007. Sue Gee has also published many short stories, some of which have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She lives in London and Herefordshire. Her new novel is The Tiger of Tulsipore due out in 2012.
