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After the Funeral
A masterful collection of stories that plumb the depths of everyday life, from the incomparable Tessa Hadley
'One of the best fiction writers writing today'
CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE, author of AMERICANAH
'Any publication of hers is a cause for celebration'
FINANCIAL TIMES
'My inspiration, my literary thrill, and my solace'
LILY KING, author of WRITERS & LOVERS
In each of the twelve stories in After the Funeral , small events have huge consequences . Heloise's father died in a car crash when she was a little girl; at a dinner party in her forties, she meets someone connected to that long-ago tragedy. Janey's bohemian mother plans to marry a man close to Janey's own age - everything changes when an accident interrupts the wedding party. A daughter caring for her elderly mother during the pandemic becomes obsessed with the woman next door; in the wake of his best friend's death, a man must reassess his affair with the friend's wife. Teenager Cecilia wakes one morning on vacation with her parents in Florence and sees them for the first time through disenchanted eyes.
These stories illuminate the enduring conflicts between responsibility and freedom, power and desire, convention and subversion, reality and dreams.
'One of the best fiction writers writing today'
CHIMAMANDA NGOZI ADICHIE, author of AMERICANAH
'Any publication of hers is a cause for celebration'
FINANCIAL TIMES
'My inspiration, my literary thrill, and my solace'
LILY KING, author of WRITERS & LOVERS
In each of the twelve stories in After the Funeral , small events have huge consequences . Heloise's father died in a car crash when she was a little girl; at a dinner party in her forties, she meets someone connected to that long-ago tragedy. Janey's bohemian mother plans to marry a man close to Janey's own age - everything changes when an accident interrupts the wedding party. A daughter caring for her elderly mother during the pandemic becomes obsessed with the woman next door; in the wake of his best friend's death, a man must reassess his affair with the friend's wife. Teenager Cecilia wakes one morning on vacation with her parents in Florence and sees them for the first time through disenchanted eyes.
These stories illuminate the enduring conflicts between responsibility and freedom, power and desire, convention and subversion, reality and dreams.
226 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 11, 2023
360 people are currently reading
10952 people want to read
About the author
Tessa Hadley
65 books978 followersTessa Hadley is the author of Sunstroke and Other Stories, and the novels The Past, Late in the Day and Clever Girl. She lives in Cardiff, Wales, and teaches literature and creative writing at Bath Spa University.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 339 reviews
July 13, 2023
4.5⭐
After the Funeral and Other Stories by Tessa Hadley is a remarkable collection of short stories that examines everyday relationships both in their simplicity and in their complexity. Revolving around themes of family, friendship, marriage and relationships, these stories examine human behavior and how one copes with shifting dynamics in close relationships impacting their priorities, self-perception and worldview.
The author writes with insight, compassion and great emotional depth. After the Funeral (4.5) follows nine-year-old Charlotte in the years following her father’s demise wherein she takes it upon herself to hold her family together. In Dido’s Lament (5), a chance meeting between former spouses triggers moments of fond memories, regrets and hidden resentments. After their mother is hospitalized after a fall, three sisters return to their childhood home triggering a cascade of memories in The Bunty Club.(4)
On the day of her mother’s wedding to a much younger man, a surprising series of events reveals a more complicated dynamic between the mother, her husband-to-be and her adult daughter in My Mother’s Wedding (4.5). Funny Little Snake(5) revolves around the complicated relationship between a recently married young woman and her stepdaughter. In Men(4), two estranged sisters, see each for the first time in fifteen years but find that some distances are too hard to traverse.
In Cecilia Awakened(5) a perceptive teenager learns a life lesson when she begins to see her family members and herself as distinct individuals with their own set of flaws and shortcomings vis a vis what they project to the outside world and each other, while on vacation.Old Friends (5) follows an affair between a married woman and her husband’s close friend and how it is impacted by a shocking tragedy. In Children at Chess(5), a middle-aged man is shaken when learns of his older sister’s ill health and impending demise.
A middle-aged woman meets a woman who had a scandalous connection to her late father, dredging up painful memories in The Other One (4). In Mia(4), a young woman meets an affluent, seemingly happy woman on a private catering gig but soon realizes that having everything might not necessarily ensure happiness. Set during the pandemic, a middle-aged woman caring for her elderly mother finds herself drawn to her elderly neighbor’s caregiver in Coda(4).
The stories vary in length, setting and tone. Though the writing is crisp with no excesses, the characters are exceptionally well-fleshed out and the author is diligent in her attention to detail while establishing the setting for each of the stories. Overall, I found this collection to be a through-provoking read that I would not hesitate to recommend to those who enjoy character-driven short stories. This is my first time reading this author and I look forward to exploring more of Tessa Hadley’s work.
Many thanks to Knopf, Pantheon, Vintage, and Anchor and NetGalley for the digital review copy and the publisher for the gifted copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.
July 26, 2023
I've enjoyed reading every story in this collection. They are minimalist in plot, but Tessa Hadley has a way of making ordinary events look like the most truthful moments in her characters lives.
The first story, which gives the title of the book, starts with the death of the father, but at the center of most of them are complex mother-daughter relationships. Highly recommend it.
The first story, which gives the title of the book, starts with the death of the father, but at the center of most of them are complex mother-daughter relationships. Highly recommend it.
June 20, 2023
Every time I begin a new collection of short stories, I recall the words of author Daisy Johnson: “It is time to stop apologizing for their brevity and begin celebrating it.” Many of the stories contained within After the Funeral are cause for celebration.
They are realistically classic in a good way – no bells and whistles here -- and insightful and illuminating in an enduring way. Tessa Hadley’s intensely detailed portraits of the landscapes and venues that her characters occupy will appeal to some but not to all.
And, like just about any good short story collection, there are tales that stand out. Dodo’s Lament struck a chord, highlighting a chance meeting between a “tall, anxious, distinctive” woman in her mid-thirties and the husband she had thrown over years ago. He has now remarried and is eager to give her a glimpse of his now successful life. It is not until the end of the story that we gain the opportunity to discover what the meeting has meant to him.
My Mother’s Wedding introduces us to a mum who “didn’t do anything ordinary” and is about to embark on a marriage with a much younger man. Drama surrounds the wedding, but things suddenly change when an accident places the relationship between mother, daughter, and soon-to-be-stepfather in a different perspective.
Old Friends gives new meaning to a relationship triangle: a very imperfect but charismatic man who dies prematurely, his best friend who has fallen in love with the man’s wife, and the wife who has decidedly muddled feelings. And one of my favorites, Funny Little Snake, focuses on a young second wife whose dealings with her husband’s detached and odd young daughter and his narcissistic ex-wife shifts and changes as the reality of the situation becomes evident.
These are fine stories from a fine writer. I’m so pleased to be an advance reader in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Knopf, for giving me the opportunity.
They are realistically classic in a good way – no bells and whistles here -- and insightful and illuminating in an enduring way. Tessa Hadley’s intensely detailed portraits of the landscapes and venues that her characters occupy will appeal to some but not to all.
And, like just about any good short story collection, there are tales that stand out. Dodo’s Lament struck a chord, highlighting a chance meeting between a “tall, anxious, distinctive” woman in her mid-thirties and the husband she had thrown over years ago. He has now remarried and is eager to give her a glimpse of his now successful life. It is not until the end of the story that we gain the opportunity to discover what the meeting has meant to him.
My Mother’s Wedding introduces us to a mum who “didn’t do anything ordinary” and is about to embark on a marriage with a much younger man. Drama surrounds the wedding, but things suddenly change when an accident places the relationship between mother, daughter, and soon-to-be-stepfather in a different perspective.
Old Friends gives new meaning to a relationship triangle: a very imperfect but charismatic man who dies prematurely, his best friend who has fallen in love with the man’s wife, and the wife who has decidedly muddled feelings. And one of my favorites, Funny Little Snake, focuses on a young second wife whose dealings with her husband’s detached and odd young daughter and his narcissistic ex-wife shifts and changes as the reality of the situation becomes evident.
These are fine stories from a fine writer. I’m so pleased to be an advance reader in exchange for an honest review. Thank you, Knopf, for giving me the opportunity.
May 17, 2024
I loved this! Each story was a gem as I would expect from Hadley, one of my favorite authors of what I would call domestic dramas. I tried this in print but at a time I was very fatigued. This time, Abigail Thaw's got the tone right in her beautiful audio narration. Recommended!
Why I'm reading this: Actually I'm listening but the audio for this collection isn't listed on GR editions. I got this in hardcover last a while back but didn't have time to read. I'm so glad I'm listening as one of my favorite actors/narrators, Abagail Thaw, does a beautiful job of bringing Hadley's stories to life.
Why I'm reading this: Actually I'm listening but the audio for this collection isn't listed on GR editions. I got this in hardcover last a while back but didn't have time to read. I'm so glad I'm listening as one of my favorite actors/narrators, Abagail Thaw, does a beautiful job of bringing Hadley's stories to life.
January 26, 2025
My favorite author of the moment.these stories were so intense so emotional after the last word of each one i sat looking at the page considering it all.What beautiful writing every one was a treasure for me. cannot wait to see what will come next. what a great pleasure.
July 2, 2023
Please note that I received this book via NetGalley. This did not affect my rating or review.
I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. The overarching theme for them all seems to be loneliness and just hiding the truth from themselves or others. The first story ran a little long and was hard to get through but after that Hadley hits their stride. I changed my initial rating of 4 stars to 5 after I posted the full review. I enjoyed so many of the stories, I couldn't rate it less than that. I did not favorite it though since I don't see me re-reading this time and time again.
Full review:
"After the Funeral" (4.5 stars)-A young wife (Marlene) loses her husband and is left to depend on the kindness of a new boss and her brother-in-law while her two daughters, Charlotte and Lulu who are 9 and 7 at the start of the story that are dealing with their lives being turned upside down. The story follows Marlene, her oldest daughter, Charlotte, mainly through the next decade almost where Charlotte realizes a lot of hidden things about her mother. She always finds herself doing whatever is necessary to push her mother and sister towards something that looks like a family. Even if it's stolen. I thought the ending of this was really good, but the first couple of pages of this story took a while to hit their stride. I started to worry that all of the stories would be like this. But after the groove settles in, the story was really good. I felt so badly for Charlotte.
"Dido's Lament" (5 stars)-What would you do if you ran into your ex-husband. Would you be gracious? Try to hide how your life actually is? What if what you see, isn't what you get? I loved the story of Lynette and running into her ex-husband Toby. The story seemed straightforward til Hadley allows us into Toby's inner feelings.
"The Bunty Club" (4 stars)-This story follows three sisters who are facing the unpleasant reality that their mother is ill and likely will not return back to their childhood home. The story follows the youngest sister Serena, and then we jump into the bare bone lives of her older sisters, Pippa and Gillian. I don't know this one seemed to start off promising, but Serena and her storyline just didn't do much for me. The ending hit home though.
"My Mother's Wedding" (5 stars)-Woo boy. This was all kinds of [swear word] up. I loved it though.
"Funny Little Snake" (5 stars)-A young stepmother who is fed up with caring for her husband's child from his first marriage. However, things take a turn when she realizes that she may have to step in where she thought she would not have to. I liked it. It was an odd little story and worked.
"Men" (5 stars)-A woman who works at a hotel finds herself gazing upon her long lost sister. Two women who both told themselves stories about the other, and both missing each other.
"Cecilia Awakened" (5 stars)-A young teenager named Cecilia realizes that her life and her parents are not what they appear to be. I think most of us had that awakening in their teen years. I think what is most painful for Cecilia and her mother, is that they both seemed to think if they could just be beautiful, or something else, that life wouldn't be so hard or scary.
"Old Friends" (5 stars)-An affair that seems to have been with the wrong person. No spoilers. But I did enjoy how this was told and how it ended.
"Children at Chess" (5 stars)-An older man who realizes that his sister, who has always been there in kind of a stationary way, is ill and probably going to die soon. It hits him with a quickness and he's left thinking of their childhood.
"The Other One" (5 stars)-A divorced woman named Heloise who just seems to be stuck. She's stuck on the fact that her father had an affair, got into a car accident, and then died along with his lover when she was 12. But....is everything what it seems there. I loved the layers to this story. This one ran almost as long as the first story in the collection.
"Mia" (4 stars)-This one felt a bit uneven. We follow a young woman named Alison who comes across a woman named Mia, who is everything that she wishes she could be. But then Alison quickly sees that Mia who may be beautiful, may be lacking a lot of things.
I really enjoyed this collection of short stories. The overarching theme for them all seems to be loneliness and just hiding the truth from themselves or others. The first story ran a little long and was hard to get through but after that Hadley hits their stride. I changed my initial rating of 4 stars to 5 after I posted the full review. I enjoyed so many of the stories, I couldn't rate it less than that. I did not favorite it though since I don't see me re-reading this time and time again.
Full review:
"After the Funeral" (4.5 stars)-A young wife (Marlene) loses her husband and is left to depend on the kindness of a new boss and her brother-in-law while her two daughters, Charlotte and Lulu who are 9 and 7 at the start of the story that are dealing with their lives being turned upside down. The story follows Marlene, her oldest daughter, Charlotte, mainly through the next decade almost where Charlotte realizes a lot of hidden things about her mother. She always finds herself doing whatever is necessary to push her mother and sister towards something that looks like a family. Even if it's stolen. I thought the ending of this was really good, but the first couple of pages of this story took a while to hit their stride. I started to worry that all of the stories would be like this. But after the groove settles in, the story was really good. I felt so badly for Charlotte.
"Dido's Lament" (5 stars)-What would you do if you ran into your ex-husband. Would you be gracious? Try to hide how your life actually is? What if what you see, isn't what you get? I loved the story of Lynette and running into her ex-husband Toby. The story seemed straightforward til Hadley allows us into Toby's inner feelings.
"The Bunty Club" (4 stars)-This story follows three sisters who are facing the unpleasant reality that their mother is ill and likely will not return back to their childhood home. The story follows the youngest sister Serena, and then we jump into the bare bone lives of her older sisters, Pippa and Gillian. I don't know this one seemed to start off promising, but Serena and her storyline just didn't do much for me. The ending hit home though.
"My Mother's Wedding" (5 stars)-Woo boy. This was all kinds of [swear word] up. I loved it though.
"Funny Little Snake" (5 stars)-A young stepmother who is fed up with caring for her husband's child from his first marriage. However, things take a turn when she realizes that she may have to step in where she thought she would not have to. I liked it. It was an odd little story and worked.
"Men" (5 stars)-A woman who works at a hotel finds herself gazing upon her long lost sister. Two women who both told themselves stories about the other, and both missing each other.
"Cecilia Awakened" (5 stars)-A young teenager named Cecilia realizes that her life and her parents are not what they appear to be. I think most of us had that awakening in their teen years. I think what is most painful for Cecilia and her mother, is that they both seemed to think if they could just be beautiful, or something else, that life wouldn't be so hard or scary.
"Old Friends" (5 stars)-An affair that seems to have been with the wrong person. No spoilers. But I did enjoy how this was told and how it ended.
"Children at Chess" (5 stars)-An older man who realizes that his sister, who has always been there in kind of a stationary way, is ill and probably going to die soon. It hits him with a quickness and he's left thinking of their childhood.
"The Other One" (5 stars)-A divorced woman named Heloise who just seems to be stuck. She's stuck on the fact that her father had an affair, got into a car accident, and then died along with his lover when she was 12. But....is everything what it seems there. I loved the layers to this story. This one ran almost as long as the first story in the collection.
"Mia" (4 stars)-This one felt a bit uneven. We follow a young woman named Alison who comes across a woman named Mia, who is everything that she wishes she could be. But then Alison quickly sees that Mia who may be beautiful, may be lacking a lot of things.
May 22, 2023
This collection made me excited to read again. I had been in a drought for quite some time, and was starting to think that maybe I just really didn't like to read anymore, that I slowly and unthinkingly lost something important. Well. Tessa Hadley has reawakened my need to consume the thoughts of others, to see profundity in the minutiae of seemingly ordinary lives, and remember that an arrangement of words can be so exquisite as to produce joy.
July 28, 2023
All these stories have really fascinating and well-rounded characters. What annoyed me was that I would get all wrapped up in their lives and then the story would just end- mostly without any kind of resolution to the plot. Arghh! Hadley certainly is a talented writer, but I wish she would tell a complete story.
June 7, 2022
Individual realities are made of all that's left unsaid.
September 24, 2024
What a brilliant introduction to Hadley; she and Lispecter have been high on my list of writers to acquaint myself with but for one reason or another, haven’t yet. I’m not a massive short story collection fan; they always leave me wanting more, but not so with this collection (although I would 100% read full length novels of each story).
Each story is about a woman or girl in one situation or another; the portrays are nuanced, complex, and so realistic. Though Hadley is impressive with her descriptions and setting the scene rather quickly, what I appreciate most is her restraint, what she didn’t write, the silence and space she affords the reader to make sense of the story. Standouts, for me, are: Dido’s lament; funny little snake; old friends; and the bunty club.
Each story is about a woman or girl in one situation or another; the portrays are nuanced, complex, and so realistic. Though Hadley is impressive with her descriptions and setting the scene rather quickly, what I appreciate most is her restraint, what she didn’t write, the silence and space she affords the reader to make sense of the story. Standouts, for me, are: Dido’s lament; funny little snake; old friends; and the bunty club.
August 31, 2023
Good.
September 1, 2024
'her grandmother's gaze, which was the same milky blue as her Delft pottery'
Tessa Hadley uses such exact description, visual and accurate in her writing. Favourite stories were Dido's Lament, a chance meeting that anyone who has ever had a previous relationship would connect with. And a final twist from the ex partner point of view. The Bunty Club and Men both explore the relationships between sisters. And Old Friends is a heartbreaking tale that felt so believable.
These are accomplished short stories, many first published in the New Yorker. Recommended read.
Tessa Hadley uses such exact description, visual and accurate in her writing. Favourite stories were Dido's Lament, a chance meeting that anyone who has ever had a previous relationship would connect with. And a final twist from the ex partner point of view. The Bunty Club and Men both explore the relationships between sisters. And Old Friends is a heartbreaking tale that felt so believable.
These are accomplished short stories, many first published in the New Yorker. Recommended read.
January 3, 2025
3.5 stjerner!
Den er ikke dårlig, men den er heller ikke bra.
Gjentagende fortellinger, som at hun sitter på en banger hun bare må få ut som resulterer i at i de 12 novellene møter man:
11 søskenpar der 1 er tynn, eterisk og singel mens resten er «stocky» med barnebarn
10 set med søstre
8 tilfeller av Auburn colored hair
Og mange døde fedre
Etc etc.
poenget er at har du lest en, så har du lest alle.
Så selv om en er bra i seg selv, blir det litt booooring
Den er ikke dårlig, men den er heller ikke bra.
Gjentagende fortellinger, som at hun sitter på en banger hun bare må få ut som resulterer i at i de 12 novellene møter man:
11 søskenpar der 1 er tynn, eterisk og singel mens resten er «stocky» med barnebarn
10 set med søstre
8 tilfeller av Auburn colored hair
Og mange døde fedre
Etc etc.
poenget er at har du lest en, så har du lest alle.
Så selv om en er bra i seg selv, blir det litt booooring
December 16, 2024
Great collection. Coda, Dido's Lament, and Funny little snake are the best. She really is an absolute master.
December 10, 2023
After the Funeral is a collection of twelve short stories focusing on women and their relationships… wives, ex-wives, mothers and daughters, sisters. I have often said that I don’t always love short stories because they usually leave me wanting more and while some of these stories were too short for my taste and there were a couple where I couldn’t parse out the meaning (like Children at Chess and Cecilia’s Awakening), others drew me right in (like The Other One - which is such a good example of engrossing writing - and Coda). All in all it was a strong collection with some really wonderful writing. This is my first time reading Tessa Hadley and this collection has made me really excited to read more to her work. I would recommend!
August 30, 2023
I thoroughly enjoyed this collection of short stories. What happens after the death of a spouse or parent ? Many of these stories explore the impact of lives separating or re-colliding. There are those that go on to have better fortunes and happier lives and those that experience regret (these are probably the ones who go on to lesser fortunes). These stories were, kind of, everyday people but Hadley manages to make them individual unique and their story surprising.
Read
August 4, 20252024 Winner of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize
I love short stories & definitely adore some previous winners of this prize so much, but this collection was only “good”… a bit too safe & bland for my tastes, in the writing style, subject matter, language / innovation, etc…
I love short stories & definitely adore some previous winners of this prize so much, but this collection was only “good”… a bit too safe & bland for my tastes, in the writing style, subject matter, language / innovation, etc…
July 2, 2025
Largely stories of family and unspoken secrets, a familiar combination. Not all of the stories are memorable, but the best of them are terrific. For the most part, it's a bookended collection, with the better stories at the opening and the close.
They are -
After the Funeral
A newly bereaved mum and her two daughters are let down by the men in their lives again and again. It is no wonder they cling together, the hell with what their rotten relatives (all on the late husband's side) say behind their backs. Softly, decisively told - the tone reminded me of a Richard Yates story - there's not one false step, as their world slowly spins into focus. A sad, glimmering gem of a short story.
Dido's Lament.
The underground at rush hour, bedlam. A woman is suddenly smashed into by a passer by, sending her flying. She is so infuriated that despite a twisted ankle from her fall, she barrels her way through the crowd to confront the man who pushed her, only to find that it's somebody she once knew very well. The construction of this piece is like an origami object, each fold opening to reveal another layer. Hadley drops shadowed, casual clues to who these people really are right from the start: one seemingly strong, badly injured victim, and a man who knocked her over and kept on going.
My Mother's Wedding
Oh, I loved this. A 17 year-old girl is somewhat irritatedly preparing for her hippie mother's 3rd (3rd? 4th?) wedding. The new fiancé, Patrick, is 26 - closer to the daughter's age than her mother's - and she says of him,
"I loved talking with someone who had read things in books, instead of having experiences."
She has grown up on a farm amongst a large group of Experience Having adults who specialize in swapping partners and fermented, wildly intoxicating home brewing.
The end of this story arrives suddenly, a lightning bolt of shock and understanding! Like a horse trampling in full speed amidst a floor of drunk, stoned dancers, its rider shouting into the air, "See? See? See?"
Funny Little Snake
I'd read this in the New Yorker before and never forgotten it, the memory sticking like a cloudy bad dream, dirty hallways, a house you want out of.
A woman in a sad marriage to a brittle man, comes to see, horrifyingly close up, his awful first wife, and the heartbreaking, funny little snake that is the mistreated child those 2 created and essentially pushed off.
This might be the story of a rescue, but the very end lands on an uncertain step. God, this story, it is so painful and so good.
Coda
(a long story, almost a novella)
A lonely, staid older daughter moves in with her once glamorous 83 year old mum during Covid, and becomes obsessed with watching the hired nurse helping their next door neighbour. I liked this, but could have done without the Madame Bovary references, which only served to bog down the story rather than elevate the daughter's creeping dissatisfaction with her circumstances. Still, the story captures how small life became during the early period of Covid, vision tunneling inward. To be stuck with your one aged, unwell parent, her next door neighbour also declining, not surprising a fascination would form with the person playing your role one house over, all of you living in something like a sudden desert that rolls forward, no end in sight.
They are -
After the Funeral
A newly bereaved mum and her two daughters are let down by the men in their lives again and again. It is no wonder they cling together, the hell with what their rotten relatives (all on the late husband's side) say behind their backs. Softly, decisively told - the tone reminded me of a Richard Yates story - there's not one false step, as their world slowly spins into focus. A sad, glimmering gem of a short story.
Dido's Lament.
The underground at rush hour, bedlam. A woman is suddenly smashed into by a passer by, sending her flying. She is so infuriated that despite a twisted ankle from her fall, she barrels her way through the crowd to confront the man who pushed her, only to find that it's somebody she once knew very well. The construction of this piece is like an origami object, each fold opening to reveal another layer. Hadley drops shadowed, casual clues to who these people really are right from the start: one seemingly strong, badly injured victim, and a man who knocked her over and kept on going.
My Mother's Wedding
Oh, I loved this. A 17 year-old girl is somewhat irritatedly preparing for her hippie mother's 3rd (3rd? 4th?) wedding. The new fiancé, Patrick, is 26 - closer to the daughter's age than her mother's - and she says of him,
"I loved talking with someone who had read things in books, instead of having experiences."
She has grown up on a farm amongst a large group of Experience Having adults who specialize in swapping partners and fermented, wildly intoxicating home brewing.
The end of this story arrives suddenly, a lightning bolt of shock and understanding! Like a horse trampling in full speed amidst a floor of drunk, stoned dancers, its rider shouting into the air, "See? See? See?"
Funny Little Snake
I'd read this in the New Yorker before and never forgotten it, the memory sticking like a cloudy bad dream, dirty hallways, a house you want out of.
A woman in a sad marriage to a brittle man, comes to see, horrifyingly close up, his awful first wife, and the heartbreaking, funny little snake that is the mistreated child those 2 created and essentially pushed off.
This might be the story of a rescue, but the very end lands on an uncertain step. God, this story, it is so painful and so good.
Coda
(a long story, almost a novella)
A lonely, staid older daughter moves in with her once glamorous 83 year old mum during Covid, and becomes obsessed with watching the hired nurse helping their next door neighbour. I liked this, but could have done without the Madame Bovary references, which only served to bog down the story rather than elevate the daughter's creeping dissatisfaction with her circumstances. Still, the story captures how small life became during the early period of Covid, vision tunneling inward. To be stuck with your one aged, unwell parent, her next door neighbour also declining, not surprising a fascination would form with the person playing your role one house over, all of you living in something like a sudden desert that rolls forward, no end in sight.
January 25, 2026
I continue to love Tessa Hadley’s writing. These stories are wonderfully written.
March 12, 2024
Tessa Hadley is perhaps the finest English exponent of the short story form writing today. Her latest collection, After the Funeral and Other Stories, is ample evidence of her range and virtuosity; twelve stories varied in time and place, but all featuring her customary insight into the mechanics of family life, deftness of phrase and elegance of form. Every story here is of the highest quality, but if you were looking for an example of what makes Hadley such a special writer, read Funny Little Snake, a story so full of empathy, pain and love that it was chosen by Philip Hensher to represent Tessa Hadley’s entire output in The Penguin Book of the Contemporary Short Story.
October 16, 2023
I have finished Hadley's last two novels feeling disappointed. Not so, this wonderful collection of short stories over which she holds complete mastery.
It is rare for me to be unable to finish a short story and immediately want to read the next. As a result my head was distilling all the broad and tight brushstrokes together.
In short and very short stories Hadley ferments complete characters in a period of friction in each complicated life, often not achieved in a novel. They all contain an insight into these differently extraordinary, seditious women. My favourite trope was leaving the story for the reader to imagine how the situations might develop rather than providing an "ending". The economy of the writing makes this such a rich, fascinating collection.
It is rare for me to be unable to finish a short story and immediately want to read the next. As a result my head was distilling all the broad and tight brushstrokes together.
In short and very short stories Hadley ferments complete characters in a period of friction in each complicated life, often not achieved in a novel. They all contain an insight into these differently extraordinary, seditious women. My favourite trope was leaving the story for the reader to imagine how the situations might develop rather than providing an "ending". The economy of the writing makes this such a rich, fascinating collection.
December 9, 2023
Really excellent and insightful short stories dealing with themes of mothers/daughters, adultery, and class in England over the last few decades. I thought they were finely written with some truly outstanding stories.
September 21, 2024
A dozen short stories and every one deserves a novel of its own. Pulled right into the stories with characters I believed and cared about. Excellent.
March 24, 2024
The ache of sadness permeates almost all of these stories of failed or failing relationships, lonely or abandoned girls and women (mostly), and the challenge of making and sustaining human connections. There are several standouts here and no real duds…and, despite the general downer tone, the stories are a pleasure to read for their craft, intelligence, and wit.
October 24, 2024
This was a very different book than normal. I found it frustrating to not have a conclusion to the stories, I wanted to know more about all of them; but I did enjoy the themes overall. I definitely connected to some stories more than others, I think mostly the longer ones, I had more to get in to.
September 13, 2023
I just love Hadley's stories.
November 20, 2024
I love a good slice of life short story collection. This slice was decidedly British and middle aged. I loved how descriptive the writing was. My highlight story is The Other One. I was SO invested as it slowly unfurled with each twist and turn.
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October 21, 2025read: after the funeral (21.10.25)
March 23, 2025
Satisfying collection of short stories about women and…how we are basically in competitive relationships.
August 15, 2023
thought this was gunna be a thriller. if i’d known what it was about i probably wouldn’t have picked it but i actually really enjoyed it. wish there was a 3.5 rating. the endings on some of the stories could’ve been a bit better but overall liked this book a lot
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