You Never Know: Stories

by Isabel Huggan

A radiant new collection of stories from the author of the award-winning and highly praised The Elizabeth Stories. With warmth, honesty, insight, and humor, Huggan's generous stories tell the tales of women's lives. "Reading her work is an extraordinarily satisfying experience."--The Christian Science Monitor.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

Paperback

First published May 27, 1993

About the author

Isabel Huggan (born 1943, Kitchener, Ontario, Canada), is a prize-winning Canadian author of fiction and personal essays.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Sterlingcindysu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good short stories revolving around different women and bits of their life. As a rule I go up a star because the writer has to create the atmosphere, characters, setting, etc in a few paragraphs to get the story going, and that takes work!

My only complaint--well, 2 to be honest--is the title and cover. Such an odd cover! Why not color instead of black and white, and how long did it take for the hair to get so perfectly waved? But...what is the hat doing floating in the water to the left? Is there a person under it? And a good title really helps me to remember the book and this one is so generic. True, but generic.

Thanks to the two factors above I hereby declare this a Hidden Treasure. I'm the first of my friends to have read it! And bonus, it's short.

[Janice Wang · Rating 5 out of 5]

a collection of essays that i would genuinely love to revisit over and over across my lifetime, and will hold near and dear to my heart. huggan writes intimately about the issues that women face in a man’s world, about the expectations of the role of motherhood, rape, love & lust, infertility, girlhood...truly an engaging series of essays with which most women will likely have an “aha” moment at some point, though i’m interested about the response it’ll garner from a male perspective. all in all a uniquely female voice that, despite how outdated the scenarios themselves might seem, rings loudly with the truth of the female experience

[Barbara Sibbald]

I adored "The Elizabeth Stories," and then had the great pleasure of being in Isabel Huggan's class at the University of Ottawa eons ago. She was a marvelously generous teacher; I learned so much. So I was delighted to delve into "You Never Know" and was smitten once again. I especially liked "Sitsy" & "Knowing People." She's a fine observer of friendship, love and life in general. A jewel of a writer; one to envy. From "Knowing People," the last paragraph of this fine book:
"Beneath that, I sense another surge of questions coming up against the life I have made. Like the cold black water crashing against the rock and smashing upwards in white plumes of foam, the questions are endless. Why we enter each other's lives and how we are meant to fit together is more than is given us to know. And yet that's what we want isn't it? That's what we want to understand." p 241

I'm in awe.

[Li · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely group of stories with some intriguing societal, cultural issues.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was written by my mentor, Isabel Huggan; it is her second book of short stories. Her first, The Elizabeth Stories, is one of my all time favourite books (as is this one). And I read both these books years before I began working with her. I have to give it a high rating because it does what I am trying so hard to do: create moments of being that are true. These stories are set around the world and reflect Isabel's travels, when she moved with her husband to his many different postings. I read it Madrid, in the gardens around the Palacio Real and it is perfectly suited to a sunny day in a park.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this collection of short stories (perfect before bedtime). They are short stories about women in situations where most of us have found ourselves or can imagine finding ourselves. I've had several of those moments reading this book where I was relieved to find I'm not the only woman who's had "that thought." I just picked this book up at random at the library book sale, but now I'm a big fan.

[Olivia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Book of short stories with only a few semi good stories. I found some stories to be too long and I struggled overall throughout the entire book.