The Selected Stories of Mavis Gallant

First UK edition. Thick 8vo. Pp. xxii, 887, [2]. Publisher's black linen cloth over paper-covered boards, lettered in copper to spine; deckled fore-edges. Jacket design by William Webb.

"Stories are not chapters of novels. They should not be read one after another, as if they were meant to follow along. Read one. Shut the book. Read something else. Come back later. Stories can wait." All but three of the fifty-two stories anthologized here – dealing with exile, displacement, love and estranged emotions and spanning five decades – were originally published in The New Yorker, the most illustrious outlet for short-story fiction in the English language. "1933" was originally published as "Déclassé" in Mademoiselle, while "The Pegnitz Junction" and "The Fenton Child" were originally published in Across the Bridge.

Author was awarded the Canada-Australia Literary Prize in 1984 and appointed a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1993. "Gallant is one of the great short-story writers of our time". –Michael Ondaatje