This Place You Return To Is Home

by Kirsty Gunn

The author of Rain and The Keepsake, Kirsty Gunn has received international acclaim and established herself as a uniquely powerful and significant young voice - "a young master," in the words of the Los Angeles Times. Now Gunn gives us a collection of short stories that astonish with the resonant spareness of her craft. In these stories, mothers escape to remote country villages, making prisoners of their young children. A young man is made an indentured servant by his father, his violence atoning for loneliness. A wife comes to fear the closeness of her own husband's attentions. Haunted by the past, these stories explore the paradox of home as both a place of departure and return, comprising a range of voices portrayed with breathtaking skill. This Place You Return To Is Home cements Kirsty Gunn's reputation as one of our most talented young writers.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

208 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

About the author

Kirsty Gunn was born in 1960 in New Zealand and educated at Queen Margaret College and Victoria University, Wellington, and at Oxford, where she completed an M.Phil. After moving to London she worked as a freelance journalist.

Her fiction includes the acclaimed Rain (1994), the story of an adolescent girl and the break-up of her family, for which she won a London Arts Board Literature Award; The Keepsake (1997), the fragmented narrative of a young woman recalling painful memories; and Featherstone (2002), a story concerned with love in all its variety. Her short stories have been included in many anthologies including The Junky's Christmas and Other Yuletide Stories (1994) and The Faber Book of Contemporary Stories about Childhood (1997).

She is also author of This Place You Return To Is Home (1999), a collection of short stories, and in 2001 she was awarded a Scottish Arts Council Writer's Bursary. Her latest books are The Boy and the Sea (2006), winner of the 2007 Sundial Scottish Arts Council Book of the Year Award; and 44 Things (2007), a book of personal reflections over the course of one year.

Kirsty Gunn lives in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Reviews

[Nathaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s something so magical about losing yourself in a story. This is a collection of stories and I loved it so much. I couldn’t tear myself away. I read from cover to cover in one sitting, highlighting and tabbing as I went. This is the type of short story collection I like. One that meanders along and somehow captures everything within its pages.

[Tom Graham · Rating 3 out of 5]

The kids at the library was a good one and there were a few others that caught my attention. But I did think that a lot of them were fill that anyone could have written. Not that they were necessarily bad or anything, and pretty much all of them cover interesting topics that are good to think about.

[Ivy Murillo · Rating 2 out of 5]

Stories 2, 9 and 10 were the best

[Becky Seielstad · Rating 1 out of 5]

I didn't really enjoy this book.
It didn't give enough details.

[Irene · Rating 5 out of 5]

I picked up this little book of short stories at just the right time in my life. I have been working on writing short stories for my senior thesis, but haven't actually read any in a long while, and I have been struggling with making my characters come across as real. In her stories, Gunn beautifully crafts each character with their own unique depth, all in a matter of pages. This was just what I needed and I would recommend this book to anyone (writers and non-writers alike) who wants to explore the meaning of home, family, and love. A truly great read.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to devour every word Kirsty Gunn has written, and all of her thoughts which must be as heart-wrenching as the stories in this collection. I don't recall the last time stories have literally taken my breath or caused my heart to race, but these have done both. The raw truth of the characters and the observations they make is at times shocking...you can't help wanting to read more.

[Matthew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Gunn has a really unique style that envelops you and holds your interest. It compliments these short stories perfectly as it keeps you hooked, waiting for the resolution.

[Katy · Rating 5 out of 5]

devastating and beautiful

[Sophie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely short stories that are still running through my mind. Enigmatic.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. The best I-picked-this-up-on-a-whim read in as long as I can remember.