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Ravelled and Other Stories
A collection of short stories by author Sue Hampton. Reviews include "I loved the underlying story of beauty not being in the eye of the beholder. The Brute and the Beast is wonderfully written with an abundance of fantastic details and adjectives to let the mind visualise the scenes and personalities in the book."
154 pages, Kindle Edition
First published August 15, 2016
4 people want to read
About the author
Sue Hampton
51 books10 followersSue owes her love of words to her father and her storytelling to an imaginative childhood - and to the children she taught for many years before becoming a full-time author. As a teacher she wrote the Christmas productions and loved Story Time best. Inspired by Michael Morpurgo, she wrote THE WATERHOUSE GIRL, the story of Daisy, a girl who like Sue herself has alopecia, and was delighted when he rang her to tell her it was insightful, poignant and beautifully written. She now has sixteen novels for 6 - 16 and beyond, and writes historical,futuristic and contemporary stories, fantasy, adventures and mysteries. Sue still enjoys working with children when schools book her to inspire their pupils.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 4, 2018
Whether it is writing for children or adults, Sue Hampton's wit, wisdom, clarity, and tender affirmations suffuse ordinary—and sometimes not-so-ordinary—moments with an unforgettable luster. In her masterful collection, RAVELLED & OTHER STORIES, she explores a full range of ideas and characters, spanning from the friendship of an elder woman and her young, male driver, in “Away for Christmas,” to the lyrical fable that subverts popular beliefs of beauty and love, “The Brute and the Beast.”
Sue Hampton’s deftness can be further seen by the way she allows the readers enough room to interpret meaning for themselves. Her characters, whether lovely or unlovely, conjure a sense of compassion and connection. Through experiences of love, grief, loneliness, redemption, we are never left heartbroken, for every adversity either sparkles with humor or leads the character to something transcendent. A teenager falls in love with her teacher, a goddess-queen struggles with self-doubt, a newly divorced, older man engages in hilarious antics to escape feeling pathetic.
One story leads to another, like rosary beads, holding the spectator to a simultaneous act of reading and meditation. This is a rare and satisfying collection that I am sure will teach me something new about writing, life, and the mind of an extraordinary author every time I re-read it. You simply must get a copy!
Sue Hampton’s deftness can be further seen by the way she allows the readers enough room to interpret meaning for themselves. Her characters, whether lovely or unlovely, conjure a sense of compassion and connection. Through experiences of love, grief, loneliness, redemption, we are never left heartbroken, for every adversity either sparkles with humor or leads the character to something transcendent. A teenager falls in love with her teacher, a goddess-queen struggles with self-doubt, a newly divorced, older man engages in hilarious antics to escape feeling pathetic.
One story leads to another, like rosary beads, holding the spectator to a simultaneous act of reading and meditation. This is a rare and satisfying collection that I am sure will teach me something new about writing, life, and the mind of an extraordinary author every time I re-read it. You simply must get a copy!
August 5, 2017
Ravelled is a mix of stories from the allegorical The Goddess, through the more prosaic Away For Christmas to the reworking of a fairy story in The Brute and the Beast.
I don’t often read short stories so I thought I’d just dip in to Ravelled and read the first one as I had just finished another book. Before I knew where I was, an entire block of time had vanished and I had devoured every one! I was immediately gripped by the first in the collection, The Boarder, as there is a husband called Steve. My husband is called Steve. The protagonist, Kate, is grieving her recently deceased father. I’m grieving my recently deceased father. Kate’s father had been unhappy at boarding school. My father-in-law had been unhappy in boarding school. In Away for Christmas, I felt Gerry was exactly the kind of woman I could become and she was the character I liked most in all of the tales. In If, Tess is the same age as me. There are Lindas in Ravelled and Susan wants to be known as Sue, just like my own sister Sue. It felt as if Sue Hampton was writing something that I could immediately relate to and that she was also prepared to lay bare her own soul in the telling. I wonder whether being a woman of a certain age means that this collection appeals so much?
In fact I loved all Sue Hampton’s writing. Sometimes her meaning is ever so slightly obscure so that the reader can bring their own interpretation to the story and extract a meaning that makes it entirely personal to them. She creates poetry with her words and people in whom the reader can instantly believe and with whom they can empathise. I encountered more emotion and better drawn people in each short story that I often find in lengthy novels.
I loved the themes of love, loss, loneliness, forgiveness, youth, age and relationships that form the basis of every story. There is an intensity of passion, hope and love that shines through even the most adverse moments in the stories. There is also great humour. Read where Tess needs to keep her handkie in If!
From rarely reading short stories, Sue Hampton has persuaded me that I must read more. Ravelled is a gorgeous collection; beautifully written and touching so that I recommend it most highly.
I don’t often read short stories so I thought I’d just dip in to Ravelled and read the first one as I had just finished another book. Before I knew where I was, an entire block of time had vanished and I had devoured every one! I was immediately gripped by the first in the collection, The Boarder, as there is a husband called Steve. My husband is called Steve. The protagonist, Kate, is grieving her recently deceased father. I’m grieving my recently deceased father. Kate’s father had been unhappy at boarding school. My father-in-law had been unhappy in boarding school. In Away for Christmas, I felt Gerry was exactly the kind of woman I could become and she was the character I liked most in all of the tales. In If, Tess is the same age as me. There are Lindas in Ravelled and Susan wants to be known as Sue, just like my own sister Sue. It felt as if Sue Hampton was writing something that I could immediately relate to and that she was also prepared to lay bare her own soul in the telling. I wonder whether being a woman of a certain age means that this collection appeals so much?
In fact I loved all Sue Hampton’s writing. Sometimes her meaning is ever so slightly obscure so that the reader can bring their own interpretation to the story and extract a meaning that makes it entirely personal to them. She creates poetry with her words and people in whom the reader can instantly believe and with whom they can empathise. I encountered more emotion and better drawn people in each short story that I often find in lengthy novels.
I loved the themes of love, loss, loneliness, forgiveness, youth, age and relationships that form the basis of every story. There is an intensity of passion, hope and love that shines through even the most adverse moments in the stories. There is also great humour. Read where Tess needs to keep her handkie in If!
From rarely reading short stories, Sue Hampton has persuaded me that I must read more. Ravelled is a gorgeous collection; beautifully written and touching so that I recommend it most highly.
September 9, 2017
Sue Hampton has the most wonderful way of making each of her characters totally relatable. You feel like you have climbed into each character’s skin and are thinking their thoughts, feeling their emotions and embarking on each experience with them. This is the case for all of the characters, not only the primary ones, and it makes the reading experience very intense.
I love short stories and I found Sue’s very engaging and enjoyable. In this collection of tales, Sue deals with life’s ups and downs in a very entertaining, humorous but also poignant manner.
My particular favourite was a story entitled Away for Christmas. The story is about an elderly and neglected old lady, Gerry, who has become very difficult and set in her ways. Gerry goes away every Christmas and this year she makes the car journey to the hotel with a new, young and very cheerful taxi driver, Kyle, rather than her usual driver who knows her ways. I found the delightful development of a supportive relationship between Gerry and Kyle to be charming and it was lovely to read about the knock-on effects of the changes to these central characters to the people around them both.
I love short stories and I found Sue’s very engaging and enjoyable. In this collection of tales, Sue deals with life’s ups and downs in a very entertaining, humorous but also poignant manner.
My particular favourite was a story entitled Away for Christmas. The story is about an elderly and neglected old lady, Gerry, who has become very difficult and set in her ways. Gerry goes away every Christmas and this year she makes the car journey to the hotel with a new, young and very cheerful taxi driver, Kyle, rather than her usual driver who knows her ways. I found the delightful development of a supportive relationship between Gerry and Kyle to be charming and it was lovely to read about the knock-on effects of the changes to these central characters to the people around them both.
August 8, 2017
Enter into other lives; some the sort of people we meet every day,with experiences that have a resonance in our own lives. Or read lyrical fairy tales for grown ups, there is plenty to delight in this eclectic selection.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews