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Collected Stories
Angela Huth is one our most consistently enthralling novelists, with a career that spans such critically acclaimed works as LAND GIRLS, WIVES OF THE FISHERMEN and OF LOVE AND SLAUGHTER. But she is also a master of the short story, as this succulent retrospective spanning 25 years reveals. This new anthology contains the very best of Angela's three short story collections - MONDAY LUNCH IN FAIRYLAND, SUCH VISITORS and ANOTHER KIND OF CINDERELLA - together with two wonderful new pieces: 'Angels Bending Near the Earth', a tale of Christmas and competitive friends; and 'The Wife and a Half', about a woman bewitched by a conversation about Byron. These are vignettes and epiphanies that bear all the hallmarks of Angela's writing skills: her eye for description, her ear for dialogue, her understanding of the subtle intricacies of human relationships. In 'Men Friends', a funeral reveals the truth about an odd couple's relationship; in 'The Bull', a rampaging animal provides the impetus for a woman to change her life; and in 'Sudden Dancer', a husband's plan to surprise his wife ends up with him being surprised himself.
- GenresShort Stories
360 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2003
10 people want to read
About the author
Angela Huth
60 books18 followersDaughter of actor Harold Huth, english novelist Angela Huth married journalist and travel writer Quentin Crewe in the 1960s and with him had a daughter. She presented programmes on the BBC, including How It Is and Why and Man Alive.
She also writes plays for radio, television and stage, and is a well-known freelance journalist, critic and broadcaster. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
She has been married to a don, James Howard-Johnston, since 1978. They live in Warwickshire and have one daughter, Eugenie Teasley.
She also writes plays for radio, television and stage, and is a well-known freelance journalist, critic and broadcaster. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.
She has been married to a don, James Howard-Johnston, since 1978. They live in Warwickshire and have one daughter, Eugenie Teasley.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
February 17, 2020
When I visit my local library, I'm like a magpie, borrowing anything which I fancy, even if I've not heard of it before. I have decided to try and be more comprehensive about going through the many to-read notebooks which I have kept since I was a teenager, deliberately selecting tomes from them to read. I therefore came across a collection of Angela Huth's short stories, which I had written down about ten years ago, and decided to try them out. I requested her Collected Stories through my local library, and the book was sent to me from the Country Store, where I believe it had been languishing for some years (the last date stamp reads 2007).
I had not read any of Huth's work before picking up her Collected Stories, and must admit that I wasn't really sure what to expect. I do not recall ever seeing her work reviewed, and I do not remember where I found the recommendation. Regardless, I settled down with the book during a storm, and read a huge chunk of it all in one go.
From the first couple of stories, I wasn't entirely sure whether I would like Huth's work; they seemed a little bitty and incomplete. However, once I reached the fourth and fifth tales, I was hooked. Some of the better stories are found towards the back of the collection.
Huth's tales are well written - sometimes beautifully so - and very easy to read. Huth's work feels quite old-fashioned on the whole, and these were lovely to settle down with; I was reminded at points of work by Carol Shields and Penelope Lively. I feel as though her style really suits this short form, and I'm currently unsure as to whether I will read any of her longer work at any time soon.
Collected Stories only had 8 ratings on Goodreads before I added my review, and I feel that it - and, too, Huth as an author - has been quite unfairly overlooked. There is so much here to admire; the characters have depth and realness to them, and the situations in which they find themselves, whilst generally quite commonplace, are rendered memorable due to the reactions which Huth relates.
The focus upon female characters, particularly those in their middle- or old-age, made the whole feel cohesive. There are commonalities threaded throughout Collected Stories, but each story is different enough to read one after the other. I would highly recommend this collection, and believe that 'Laughter in the Willows', one of the later stories, is something akin to a masterpiece.
I had not read any of Huth's work before picking up her Collected Stories, and must admit that I wasn't really sure what to expect. I do not recall ever seeing her work reviewed, and I do not remember where I found the recommendation. Regardless, I settled down with the book during a storm, and read a huge chunk of it all in one go.
From the first couple of stories, I wasn't entirely sure whether I would like Huth's work; they seemed a little bitty and incomplete. However, once I reached the fourth and fifth tales, I was hooked. Some of the better stories are found towards the back of the collection.
Huth's tales are well written - sometimes beautifully so - and very easy to read. Huth's work feels quite old-fashioned on the whole, and these were lovely to settle down with; I was reminded at points of work by Carol Shields and Penelope Lively. I feel as though her style really suits this short form, and I'm currently unsure as to whether I will read any of her longer work at any time soon.
Collected Stories only had 8 ratings on Goodreads before I added my review, and I feel that it - and, too, Huth as an author - has been quite unfairly overlooked. There is so much here to admire; the characters have depth and realness to them, and the situations in which they find themselves, whilst generally quite commonplace, are rendered memorable due to the reactions which Huth relates.
The focus upon female characters, particularly those in their middle- or old-age, made the whole feel cohesive. There are commonalities threaded throughout Collected Stories, but each story is different enough to read one after the other. I would highly recommend this collection, and believe that 'Laughter in the Willows', one of the later stories, is something akin to a masterpiece.
April 28, 2022
Curiously old fashioned in its attitudes to women, considering this version was published this century. It features trapped mothers, deluded alchoholics and lonely singletons, all of whom are held up, not for sympathy but as examples to the reader.
A book written in a time when women could be incarcerated by their family for finding their own voice.
A book written in a time when women could be incarcerated by their family for finding their own voice.
to-look-out-for
May 30, 2012Her story "Weighing it Up" about a woman's food issues is brilliant.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews