Bad Dreams and Other Stories: Edge Hill Prize Winner – Illuminating the Extraordinary Within Ordinary Life

by Tessa Hadley

The award-winning author of  Late in the Day  once again "crystallizes the atmosphere of ordinary life in prose somehow miraculous and natural" ( Washington Post ), in a collection of stories that elevate the mundane into the exceptional. “Her meticulously observed, extraordinarily perceptive stories are as satisfying as Alice Munro’s. Yes, Hadley is that good.”—NPR Winner of the Edge Hill Short Story Prize A  New York Times  Notable Book of the Year An NPR Best Book of the Year Tessa Hadley has proven herself to be the champion of revealing the hidden depths in the deceptively simple. In these short stories, it’s the ordinary things that turn out to be the most the history of a length of fabric or a forgotten jacket. Two sisters quarrel over an inheritance and a new baby; a child awake in the night explores the familiar rooms of her home, made strange by the darkness; a housekeeper caring for a helpless old man uncovers secrets from his past. The first steps into a turning point and a new life are made so easily and each of these stories illuminate crucial moments of transition, often imperceptible to the protagonists. A girl accepts a lift in a car with some older boys; a young woman reads the diaries she discovers while housesitting. Small acts have large consequences, some that can reverberate across decades; private fantasies can affect other people, for better and worse. Bad Dreams and Other Stories  demonstrates yet again that Tessa Hadley "puts on paper a consciousness so visceral, so fully realized, it heightens and expands your own. She is a true master" (Lily King, author of  Euphoria ).

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Contemporary, Literary Fiction, Audiobook, Short Story Collection, British Literature

256 pages, Paperback

First published January 26, 2017

About the author

Tessa 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.

Reviews

[Larry H · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd rate this 3.5 stars. Thanks to Diane for the inspiration to read this.

So let's get this out of the way first: contrary to what the title and the cover design of this book may lead you to believe (as it did me), this is not a collection of horror stories, or tales of the macabre. In fact, if any of the stories in this new collection cause you to have, well, bad dreams, it is because of the immensely accurate way Tessa Hadley captures everyday life and the single moments when things change.

The 10 stories in Hadley's collection are mostly about ordinary people going about their regular everyday lives. In some of the stories, one incident causes a shift for the protagonist; in others, it's a series of events. For some, the shift is felt by them alone, while for others, the shift changes the course of lives, dramatically or imperceptibly.

Some of my favorite stories included: "Flight," in which a woman tries to mend her relationship with her estranged sister while visiting their hometown in the United Kingdom; "Experience," about a lonely woman living in a borrowed house who discovers some secrets about the house's owner when she finds her diaries; "One Saturday Morning," which tells of a young girl whose parents receive an unexpected visit from an old friend who comes with sad news; "The Stain," about a housekeeper caring for an old man, who finds out some less-than-savory things about his past; "An Abduction," in which a young girl on the cusp of womanhood accepts a ride from a group of older boys; and "Silk Brocade," about a piece of, you guessed it, silk brocade fabric, and its journey throughout the years.

I have been meaning to read Hadley's work for some time, but some other book always seems to distract me. I thought reading a collection of her stories would be a good introduction to her writing style. I definitely like the way she tells stories—her characters are well-developed and intriguing, and she has a lyrical touch where imagery and setting are concerned. I definitely intend to pick up one of her novels in the near future.

The thing is, though, while I enjoyed a number of these stories, I wasn't quite sure of the point of some of them. A few of the stories seemed fairly inconsequential, and I found myself wondering if I had missed some subtle key element, or if that particular story didn't really have a purpose beyond simply, well, telling a story.

For those of you wary of short stories because you think they require more concentration and focus, I'd recommend this collection, because the stories are well-told, yet for the most part, they are uncomplicated plot-wise. I'm glad to finally read Hadley's work, and look forward to seeing her talent in long form sometime in the near future.

See all of my reviews at http://itseithersadnessoreuphoria.blo....

[Diane S ☔ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Although I have tried, several times in fact, to read Hadley's fiction, they for me never resonated. Her writing is elegant, even beautiful, but despite the top notch writing I never succeeded. Yet, from the moment I picked up this her newest book of nine shirt stories I was hooked. These stories I found phenominal.

Each story contains things that make up the most mundane of lives, but there is one particular moment in each that will have an effect that changes things. Small things that have huge consequences. It is not just her writing though, it is the details she provides, little nuances that imprint these stories in the mind. Billowing curtains, mouse droppings in a tea cup, a jacket, a piece of clothing, an attic room where a budding writer is reading and creating, just small touches that reach out and grab the reader. The details that are used to set the scene, incredibly vivid.

I didn't have a favorite story, I loved them all. Usually in short stories there are one it two that are favored, so it is unusual for me to find that I loved them all. Now I wonder if I should go back and try another of her novels, maybe with a more discerning eye. I think I will.

[Rebecca · Rating 4 out of 5]

When I think of Tessa Hadley’s books, I picture a certain quality of light. I see piercing yellow shafts of sunlight filling airy, wood-floored rooms and lowering over suburban English gardens to create languid summer evenings. I think of childhood’s sense of possibility and adolescence’s gently scary feeling of new freedoms opening up. And, even when the story lines are set in the present day, I imagine the calm sophistication of 1950s–70s fashions: smart sweater sets and skirts, or flowing hippie dresses. Perhaps that’s why “Deeds Not Words,” about a suffragette, seemed like the weakest story here. I also think of Hadley as a master of third-person omniscience, so although “Experience” features one of her typical young women protagonists, the first-person narration threw me a bit.

I can hardly find fault with any of the other eight stories in this collection, though. I loved the significance that certain memories and objects take on: a grand house left to a cleaner in a will, a scarf passed between sisters, a bit of silk brocade repurposed after decades. Several stories spotlight childhood moments, like seeing one’s mother dancing with a widower on a balcony (“One Saturday Morning”), playing a nighttime prank (“Bad Dreams”), or sinking into melodramatic Victorian novels on holiday in France (“Her Share of Sorrow”). I also like how the first and last stories end with a postscript showing how the passing of 20 or 30 years changes – or doesn’t change – things: Jane can’t forget the odd summer afternoon when she lost her virginity, though the bloke doesn’t remember the incident at all (“An Abduction”).

I’ve read Hadley’s four most recent books, and on this evidence she just keeps getting better and better. Her eye is so sharp on the child’s psychology, the way families work, how relationships fall apart, and how memories form and linger as we age. If you’ve not read her before, I would commend her work to you. (See also: Clever Girl and The Past.)

Here’s some passages that convey that atmosphere I was talking about in my first paragraph:

“It was a lovely evening, very still. The house filled up with the smell of meat stewing slowly in wine. Slanting yellow light, thick with dancing midges, pooled under the horse chestnuts outside. The floor-length sash windows were thrown up in the lounge, and after the guests had finished eating they came upstairs to sit there in the twilight, smoking and drinking.”

“Outside her bedroom window it grew dark, and the ordinary landscape of smart back gardens and pergolas and trampolines receded; an extraordinary huge moon, the colour of yellow cream, rose into the turquoise sky and seemed to be dissolving into an aureole of light around its rim.”

“And somehow that afternoon they achieved the miraculous drunkenness you only get once or twice in a lifetime, brilliant and without consequences, not peaking and subsiding but running weightlessly on and on.”

[♑︎♑︎♑︎ ♑︎♑︎♑︎ · Rating 3 out of 5]

These stories are all stunning. They are exquisitely perfect. Why didn't I enjoy them more? I guess I felt they didn't need to be read, or written. These could have been written in 1980, or 1890. They follow the same tone and structure of the great stories written by writers of the naturalist school in the late 19th century (e.g. de Maupassant). This same sort of story continued to be published with frequency throughout the 20th century in the New Yorker, and on into this century (most stories in this collection were published first in The New Yorker), and however beautifully executed these stories are, I'm tired of the type.

The first story in the collection, "The Abduction," was breathtakingly well written, but I couldn't stop thinking that I'd read it before, until I realized I was thinking of Oates's "Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?". "The Abduction" is like a sweeter version of the same story.

Maybe it's like saying I've eaten cheesecake so I have no need to ever eat it again, but there it is.

[Lee · Rating 5 out of 5]

By way of lazy recommendation (as well as the 5*s), after reading the opening story of Bad Dreams I immediately bought the rest of Hadley's short stories.

[Deborah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve not read Hadley’s stories (only her novels) until now, but these stories are exquisite small worlds with novelistic weight. Hadley remains a master of introspection, with her fully realized main characters buffeted by intense emotion. Small events or decisions have profound implications that can alter a life and resonate decades later. The title story is masterful and unsettling.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is it about Tessa Hadley? In the less than two years since I first discovered her, she's become not just a favorite author but my writing mascot, an author (and other writers know what I'm talking about, I hope) I'd like to imagine I could be. I liked this neither more nor less than Married Love—maybe that collection is a little more vivid to me for having been first—and both story collections a bit better than the novels (Everything Will Be All Right and The Past, so far). But everything I've encountered is of such uniformly high quality and so suffused in an essential Tessa Hadley-ness that these distinctions are pretty small. But I digress: What is it about Tessa Hadley?

1. She writes stories about everyday life. And I mean really, aggressively ordinary, picayune swaths of life. For example: in the title story of this collection, a little girl who can't sleep messes up her family's living room (no spoilers, but that's close to all there is). As a fiction writer, I can attest there's often a pressure to make something dramatic happen in one's stories, even literary-realistic ones. Inevitably it's the kind of thing that happens rarely if at all in reality: a car wreck, a gloves-off screaming fight between family members, etc. etc. Hadley resorts to none of these things, and suffers none of the cheesiness and predictability that commonly ensues. The stories here often hinge on something dramatic that doesn't quite happen (again, no spoilers, but "Experience," "Bad Dreams," and "Flight" could all be examples), and Hadley's ability to spin up interest and tension out of situations with no more than an ordinary amount of dramatic charge is impressive; you never feel her straining for a hook. She also ends stories in surprising places, often while you're still waiting for it to happen, whatever it is. For people who've consumed enough narratives that they can feel a climax coming from a mile away, this is refreshing. Her endings can create a breathtaking feeling, like stopping short at the edge of a cliff.
In spite of Hadley's investment in "the everyday," she does offer variety in terms of setting, time, and class. Her stories are set from the 1960s to the present, and once in a while, even farther back; they take place in London and other cities, and the country; a lot of her characters are well-off, but many are working class, and she does them all convincingly. Whatever the particular social/financial situation of a character is, it never feels generic or phoned in. She must be a phenomenal observer in real life because the details she offers nearly always tell, and tell a lot, very specifically. I'll never forget reading the first story of hers I came across, "Dido's Lament," in the New Yorker in 2016. The main character is a young woman in London, of African descent, and reading it, I just assumed that Tessa Hadley was the same. But she's 62! And white. And not from London. And she published her first novel at 46.
Besides admiring Hadley's powers of observation and her ability to convincingly inhabit other lives, I take inspiration from the example she provides, that it's possible, at least if you're kind of a genius, to write great fiction that people connect to without apparently having anything more than an ordinary, middle-aged, white-lady life to draw from.

2. The prose is great. There is a sweet spot between fancy and plain, elaborate and conversational, Jamesian and text message-y, and to my mind, Tessa Hadley hits it perfectly. Reading her, I seldom if ever pause and say "Really?" the way I do sometimes with impressive but purplish prose, but the writing never seems pedestrian, either. It's not full of fifty-cent words, and you can read it fast, but almost every sentence bears slowing down and savoring, too. I think it goes back to her command of detail. The acuity (especially visual) is extraordinary. Again and again, she pulls just the right detail, the right word. It's like coming across someone who looks fantastic, not because their clothes are flashy or trendy, but because they're well-tailored, expertly chosen, flattering, absolutely the right shade. I have a feeling that because of the way they're written, these stories will stand the test of time: they'll look good this season, but also many seasons down the road; they are wonderfully free of tics that scream "2018!" And they have that maddeningly effortless quality that I suppose a lot of New Yorker stories, in particular, have (seven of these ten were first published there), where you imagine the writer just sitting down and tapping the story out verbatim; the prose is that assured & that even.

3. There's a psychology so subtle it almost feels magic. I don't know if Tessa Hadley has ever studied psychology/psychoanalysis or not, but I wouldn't be surprised. Her work reminds me again and again of my (admittedly sketchy) understanding of "the uncanny." There is absolutely, positively no "magic" in the supernatural sense in these stories, yet what powers many, maybe all of them is a sense of cause and effect so hidden and mysterious it is almost supernatural, and it tickles the brain and, in the best cases, tingles the spine, in a similar way to actual magic. There is a fair amount of doubling (events in the past presage similar events in the future, or events in the present recall in strange form events in the past), and cases where x leads to y in a way that's surprising but feels right. It's as if what Hadley does as a writer is to lay bare the magic and mystery that exist in the everyday—to say that the real drama is here, right under our noses, if only we can attune to it. It's a feat I'd be proud to pull off even once, while she clears the hurdle gracefully, again, and again, and again.

[Alan · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first story is wonderful, looking forward to the rest!
..Yes, a marvellous collection with every story brimming with exquisitely written moments. Whilst place is well evoked - Bristol, Liverpool, the Home Counties - and time - many of these stories take place in the 60s/70s (one in the 50s) with a present day coda - it is the perfect rendition of an exchange or an afternoon that captures you.

that afternoon they achieved the miraculous drunkenness you only get once or twice in a lifetime, brilliant and without consequences, not peaking and subsiding but running weightlessly on and on.. Donny Ross's pursuit of Ann was as intent and tense as a stalking cat's: invisible to everyone else, it seemed to her to flash through all the disparate, hazy successive phases of the afternoon like a sparking, dangerous live wire. They lay close together but not touching, in the long grass under a tall ginko tree... the light faded in the sky to a deep turquoise and the peacocks came to roost in the tree above them, clotted lumps of darkness, with their long tails hanging down like bell pulls.

4.5 stars. Although not quite as layered and complex, Hadley seems to me to be England's answer to Alice Munro.

[Nicole · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tessa Hadley is a god.

[Cat Jenkins · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book epitomizes a genre (?) that baffles me. I encounter it in writing workshops. As much as I try to avoid it, I stumble across it with depressing frequency...
The "story" that wants to illustrate some human commonality that will make readers nod and sigh in soulful satisfaction at having encountered something they "relate" to. But...no. I finish each story and say "So what?" There is nothing new, nothing revealing, nothing original, no quirk of language that might make me perk up with interest. I might as well read a stolen teenager's diary for all the connection I find to the staid "messages" contained within each effort.
It's boring. It's another instance of reading that the author has garnered quite a bit of attention and awards, etc. that make me think that's the only reason a publisher took this project on. Very disappointing. Maybe there's a cathartic response in others, but I felt my time was wasted.
Boring. Pointless. Forgettable to the extreme.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 rounded up

Some really good stories here, but I think I most liked the way Tessa Hadley's keen observations of people's behaviour come across in her writing: the way the people in these stories react to things, their actions, their motives - all felt very real (and at times, totally relatable). Will be checking out more of her books for sure!

[Lauren · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a beautiful read-lately i want to lose myself in fat novels but these short stories knocked the breath out of me. They made me recall my adolescent self so naive and innocent and yet biddable girl,who thought she knew everything? These stories have such moving characters even the ones i did not care for i was fascinated by them. I am madly reading all Tessa Hadley, my favorite so far is The London Train- such a study of our inner selves and what we are led to do to carry on.

[Isobel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tessa Hadley writes so beautifully and with such perception. Each of these short stories shows attention to detail and a startling awareness of motives and behaviours, especially impressive when she writes from a child’s viewpoint.

[Tundra · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mercurial collection of short stories that share much about the nature of memory. What and how we choose to remember or forget from our childhood, relationships and dreams. I particularly liked the way Hadley captured how as children we are able to erase the memory of what doesn’t fit with our world schema. I was also a great fan of the book “Swallows and Amazons” and would have been similarly guttered if I read an epilogue like the one described in “Bad Dreams”!

[Justin · Rating 3 out of 5]

avg rating: 3.425
a perfectly fine collection of short stories! shockingly, they were all of mostly the same quality - the few standouts, while good, still felt cohesive and completely in tune with the entire collection.

..and now i get to tutor this

an abduction - ★★★

the stain - ★★★.5
almost clinical narration - kind of kept the narrative at an arm's length. which does work, but i just question whether more impact could be found somewhere

deeds not words - ★★★

one saturday morning - ★★★.5
quite affecting

experience - ★★★.5

bad dreams - ★★★★
really liked this one! the detachment finally worked fully in a story's favour

flight - ★★★★
another stronger entry

under the sign of the moon - ★★★.75
well that was sad

her share of sorrow - ★★★
kinda funny

silk brocade - ★★★
well okay then

[Richelle Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

I keep wanting to be a reader who loves short stories, but I'm often left feeling a bit uninspired and "???" when I try out a short story collection. I picked this one up because of the atmospheric cover art (and the very affordable $10 price tag), thinking it might be a good fit for spooky season. The stories aren't scary, but I'd say most of them suit an autumnal mood.

And perhaps "mood" is the best word I've got for this collection. Rather than propelling toward some kind of twist or pithy resolution, most of the stories seem to be about capturing a moment or a feeling. Tessa Hadley particularly excels at describing the preoccupations and quirks of bookish young girls (see especially "Bad Dreams" and "Her Share of Sorrow"). In certain moments, I was reminded of reading the very relatable childhood scenes in Book 1 of Knausgård's My Struggle, except here I had the additional benefit of gender identification. I really do remember feeling those very private little victories and humiliations associating with reading, writing, and constantly inhabiting a kind of fantasy world in tandem with the "real" one.

There is also a very compelling thread throughout many of the stories of women or girls kind of facing-off in a way: being jealous of each other, pitying each other, wondering privately what it might be like to trade lives. Lots of moments, too, like in "Experience," when women seem to be waiting for some kind of cosmic or social permission to feel passionately or be caught up in a moment.

A couple critiques: it was hard to tell when these stories were written, or in some cases, when they are supposed to be set. In a way, it made them seem timeless, but in another way it instantly made a couple of them feel dated despite the stray reference to wi-fi. More significantly, I wish Tessa Hadley hadn't resorted to casual body shaming and fatphobia in several of the stories. For some reason, short story writers in particular seem hell-bent on writing larger body types as grotesque. For example, the main character in "Flight" has very rude thoughts about how disgusting her niece's breasts are postpartum. I realize that some of this was likely intended at least in part as critical commentary about the aunt, but it was still discouraging to see so many of the characters (and, by extension, narrators) dipping into these tired ideas about what makes a woman beautiful, interesting, or worthy (spoiler alert: being thin and attractive is a prerequisite).

All in all, a solid collection that feels cohesive and smart without being pretentious. Minus 1.5 stars for the body shaming and a couple stories that felt inconsequential or incomplete (well, to be honest, most of them felt incomplete, but you have to remember I'm a novels girl at heart). I kept eagerly returning to it day after day, eventually finding that I enjoyed the short-story pace of briefly inhabiting a new world and getting a slice of human experience in just ~20 pages.

[JacquiWine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Last year I read and thoroughly enjoyed Tessa Hadley’s The Past, a beautifully-observed novel about four adult siblings coming together for a holiday at their old family home. It’s a character-driven book, full of subtle tensions and frustrations, demonstrating the author’s insight into family dynamics and human nature. There’s a similar degree of perceptiveness in Bad Dreams, an impressive collection of short stories, all with female protagonists at the heart.

Seven of the ten stories included here were first published in the New Yorker, and are probably still available to read online. Nevertheless, by experiencing them together in this volume, certain patterns begin to appear – common threads and themes, similar structural patterns or motifs – adding texture and depth.

While these stories are rooted in the everyday, Hadley seems particularly interested in what happens when the mundanity of life is interrupted – typically by a new experience or a chance encounter with the potential to disrupt.

In An Abduction – one of the most memorable stories in the collection – Jane, a bored fifteen-year-old girl, home from boarding school for the summer holidays, accepts a lift from three unfamiliar boys in a sports car. Older and more experienced than Jane, the boys are living the high life in a large Surrey house, dabbling with drink and drugs while their parents are away. What follows isn’t quite the horror story the reader might be expecting given the set-up. Still, it’s unsettling nonetheless, culminating in a coda that adds another layer to the narrative.

Experience is another story in this vein, with the protagonist crossing a line into an intriguing new world. When Laura needs a new place to live following the breakdown of her marriage, a friend hooks her up with Hana, a sophisticated, glamorous woman with a spacious house in London. Hana wants someone to look after her home while she spends time in the US, so Laura moves in rent-free to caretake in Hana’s absence. Having settled into the house, Laura begins to step into Hana’s shoes – eating her food, reading her secret diaries, even wearing her clothes now and again.

I had thought that I would forget about Hana once she was out of the house, but moving around inside the shapes of her life, I found myself more powerfully impressed by her than I had been when she was present. The wardrobes full of her clothes stood in for her: velvet trousers and brocade jackets, an evening dress of pleated chiffon with a sequinned bodice – everything padded and sculpted, each outfit a performance in itself. (p. 90)

To read the rest of my review, please visit:
https://jacquiwine.wordpress.com/2022...

[freckledbibliophile · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author writes so beautifully and, somewhat more detailed than the average short story author, her subtle slap in the face adjectives feels like a gentle autumn breeze ruffling fallen leaves.

One thing I did espy is her love for freckles. Hence, the use of them in every story.

Hadley gave the reader a glimpse of everyday life. She allowed her characters to show how things happen in life and how one can either meditate on it momentarily like a bad dream or let it consume them.

An Abduction was one of my favorites. A female child, Jane is picked up, shoplifts so that in her words, she won't seem to the guys (mainly Daniel) to be naive and childlike. The group ends up doing drugs and in the latter part of the story, Jane has sex (for the first time) with Daniel but later discovers him in the bed naked with Fionna. In the story, Jane asks herself, ”will I ever see my home again?” After reflecting back on the events of the past, she seemed to wonder if everything that happened was like a bad dream. Was she abducted and taken advantage of? The reader is left to form their own opinions.

I also enjoyed The Stain. Marina (the oddball) was employed as a caretaker by an old man's daughter, Wendy to watch after him. The old man had his moments when he tried kissing her and coming to her inappropriately but Marina reprimanded him. After time passed and working for him for quite some time, the old man desired to leave his mansion to her. Marina wasn't having it. Later on in the narrative, she found out from his grandson that his travels to Africa actually turned out to be his involvement in special operations for the South African Defence Force. When he passed, he still ended up changing his will and leaving his home to Marina but she was now even more determined not to hold any part of his gift. The authors use of the title, The Stain made it to Marina to be a mark on her dignity that she knew would be laborious to remove had she accepted his or his daughters, handouts.

I won't go into detail about each story, but all were very compelling. I look forward to reading more of Hadley’s work.
3.5/5

[Victoria Sadler · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an interesting one as I adored this collection of rather dark short stories though I wasn't a fan of The Past, the last full-length novel by Tessa I read. And I know why it worked out this way.

Tessa's languid, unsettling prose is intoxicating. It feels almost like dreamscape, like we're in a place that is this world but something a bit out of the ordinary. her descriptove language and her ability to capture moments in the dark underbelly of unhappy middle class lives is wonderful. However, such a style didnt work for me over 300+ pages as the narrative drive can get a bit lost. But give Tessa a shorter scene to draw and, wow! What a result.

Tessa’s book is very much UK-based; it has that sense of Britishness about it that’s so easy to identify – suppressed emotions at dinner parties, estranged sisters attempting an awkward reunion – but it also has some interesting explorations of sexuality and repressed emotions with stories of brief abductions of young girls, and a carer uncovering the hidden past of an elderly man she attends to. Tessa’s style really suits these snatched scenes. Atmospheric and surprising.

[Susie · Rating 5 out of 5]

It's always hard to rate a short story collection as some stand out as being excellent and some leave less of an impression. I also have a theory that short stories shouldn't be read in one go like a novel; they should be read in between other books, preferably reading one story in a sitting and then reading another one at least a few days later. So I read this collection over a number of months and thought it was exceptional. Nobody can nail an emotion or an impression like Tessa Hadley. A lightbulb switched on in the day time is 'inhospitable' for example. The stories set in the past were the best for me, and she is great at evoking the experience of childhood.

[Rosemary · Rating 4 out of 5]

From the title I expected more unpleasantness, if not actual horror, in these stories, but mostly they are gentle tales of discomfort - "unhappiness" is too strong, even. Girls who feel out of place in their family but do all right when they grow up, and that kind of thing.

I see that Tessa Hadley was born in 1956 and in many cases the characters are that age - if the main character is a child the setting is the 1960s, if a young adult it's the 1970s, etc. But not all. One story is set in 1914.

The writing is wonderful and I'd love to read more stories by this writer, though they're probably best read slowly rather than all at one sitting.

[David · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the sixth of Hadley's books I've read, and up until now I had (contrary to most critical opinion) considered her a better novelist than short story writer. I enjoyed her previous two collections and they contain some memorable pieces but I wasn't wowed by them. So what a surprise to read 'Bad Dreams' and to find it (for me) her strongest book to date in either form - just a brilliantly written set of stories.

[Wendy Greenberg · Rating 4 out of 5]

You enter Hadley's world in a pedestrian low-key way and unwrap each story as a startling pleasure. I felt as though I was constantly being tipped toward "an" edge in such a subtle way. The joy is in all the wonderful tricks of observation and day-to-day life bubbling through to become tender/extraordinary/dislocated moments.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Short stories are a snippet in time to me & Hadley is a master. Decisions reverberate far into the future; while reading, one feels as if they are hanging on by a thread, about to slip into something they can't take back, should they want to. I'm eager now to read more of Hadley's work.

[Bettie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Bettie's Books

[George · Rating 4 out of 5]

An engaging, interesting, gripping and generally unsettling short story collection. A young girl accepts a lift in a car with a group of young men, strangers to her, in the town they all live in. An old friend brings bad news to a dinner party. Two sisters had quarreled over an inheritance. A housekeeper caring for a helpless old man uncovers secrets from his past.

A very good collection of short stories. I have also read Tessa Hadley’s novel, ‘Late in the Day’ which I particularly enjoyed. I am looking forward to reading more of her books.

This book was first published in 2017.

[Maria]

Åh, så bra! Varje novell verkar till en början vara ett ganska ointressant och planlöst nedslag i de mest vardagliga situationer. En kvinna på ett tåg på väg för att hälsa på sin vuxna dotter, ett barn som vaknar med mardrömmar...
I efterhand går det inte att berätta vad de olika novellerna egentligen handlat om. Det stora som har hänt har hänt inom huvudpersonerna. Och händelser som verkar slumpartade och obetydliga får helt oväntade konsekvenser.

[Sara]

The heavy was heavy
and the story lock up
just bad dream was his time
float over art of dark
sound in gram was heigh
even any sweet surface turn to mountin
my heart grow cold
and my eyes sleepy
walk over pins threads
no joke
just many daily photo at wall
see at noarth and sough many adv come from forgeten book
cold feet
snow bed
even no one at balkon
just shutter of many bad dream
lets go
my vesual wake to coffy pot
write by ink at kitchen table
bad ghost dream

[Devika Suri · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m loving reading short stories - this covered so many little emotions, slice of life from toddler to teenagers to married woman to older people, all social classes etc etc thank u aideen n good reads

[Gero · Rating 4 out of 5]

About two weeks ago, I went to the bookstore without knowing what I would buy. A collection of short stories by Tessa Hadley caught my attention after skimming through it. I had not heard a single word about the author or her stories, and the back cover was full of generic praise. I gave it a shot. I liked Hadley’s clear writing. Sometimes, the characters remember some past events, but the narrative is mostly linear and the style is direct. Some stories, especially Under the Sign of the Moon, reminded me of Dahl’s Galloping Foxley.

Except for Abducted and Deeds not words, Hadley’s stories do not rely on flashy premises. They do not need them, either. To me, one of Hadley’s greatest merits is that she can make an enjoyable story out of a simple anecdote, the clearest examples being Bad Dreams and Her Share of Sorrow.

All the stories take place in England. Now, I will summarize each story without giving away the ending. However, these stories rely on much more than surprising the reader.

Abducted. Jane Allsop, a teenager from an affluent, conservative family, is abducted by three wealthy men in their late teens or early twenties: all of them Oxford freshmen. They make her steal some alcohol and also drink with them. Later, she is sexually abused by one of them. However, this is more of an adventure than a crime to her. This is the first time she feels a warm masculine company.

The Stain. Marina works as a nurse and caretaker of an eighty-nine-year-old, wealthy South African man. The man is lonely; he has only his daughter left. Although she has sons, he never got close to his grandchildren, and we do not know about any of his friends. The details of his past are not revealed, but his relatives say it was dark. The old man falls for Marina. He starts giving her gifts and pays her more than they had agreed. Things get complicated when the old man tells Marina he is giving her his house.

Deeds not Words. This short story happens during the First World War at St. Clemens, a boarding school for young women. Miss Laura, a teacher, is sent to prison for participating in direct action protests by the Women’s Social and Political Union. She becomes a celebrity at the school while imprisoned. Some students and staff members also engage in violent protests at St. Clemens. The furor of the demonstrations, however, fades away after a couple of months. Miss Laura returns defeated to the school the following year.

On a Saturday Morning. Carrie is a girl practicing her piano lessons alone in her house on a Saturday morning. One of her parents’ friends, Don, comes by unannounced. She invites him in to wait for her parents. Carrie thinks they will be happy with this visit. Don is witty, interesting, and admired by Carrie’s mother. When her parents finally arrive, Don tells them about the recent passing of his wife. This brings the mood down, so Carrie gets upset. Later that night, Carrie’s parents host a dinner party, inviting Don to it.

Experience. This is my favorite story of the collection. It is about Laura, who has recently separated from her husband at age 28. She moves into the house of Hana, a rich acquaintance who has to go to Los Angeles and wants someone to take care of her place. Laura explores Hana’s house and peeks into one of Hana's diaries. She learns about an affair Hana had with some virile man called Julian. Shortly afterward, Julian knocks on the door looking for Hana. Laura is not really attracted to him, but she is fixated on him because of what she read in Hana’s diary. Hadley's storytelling and her simple yet accurate descriptions made me picture vividly Hana's home and Laura's moods.

Bad Dreams. A nine-year-old girl wakes up in the middle of the night because of a bad dream. She does not want to wake up her mother, for she will not understand the dream's relevance. She dreamed about her favorite book having an epilogue narrating the characters' sad endings. She then makes a mess in one of the rooms, careful not to wake anyone up. Her mother sees the room when she wakes up and she assumes it is an indirect message from her husband.

Flight. Claire is a successful English woman in her early forties who flies from Philadelphia to England on a business trip. While in England, she decides to visit her sister Susan, with whom she had quarreled many years prior. Claire is longing for reconciliation with Susan. The root of the problem is an inheritance from her parents. At her sister’s place, Claire talks to Amy (her niece) and meets her newborn Calum and Calum's slobby father. Susan is the main provider of her family.

Under the Sign of the Moon. After being diagnosed with some medical condition, Greta visits her daughter in Liverpool. On the train, Greta meets a young yet old-fashioned man. He takes an interest in her and starts a conversation. Despite her initial reluctance, they end up having a chat at a café in the station while Greta waits for her daughter. When they say bye, the young man tells Greta he will be at a park the following Thursday. The park reminds Greta of her hippie youth and her time with her daughter’s father.

Her Share of Sorrow. Despite being raised by an artistic family, Ruby is a girl who shows no interest in anything remotely artistic, intellectual, or sporty. However, she gets hooked on old books during a family trip to Paris. She does not tell her family about her new diversion. She announces them when she starts writing a novel. They all get happy for her and want to read her work.

Silk Brocade. Ann Gallagher makes clothes for a living. She comes from Fishponds and tries to leave her past behind. However, some people from her past look for her occasionally in the search for a wedding dress. Nola Higgins is among them. Ann is hesitant initially but finally agrees to make Nola’s dress. Later, Nola asks Ann and her coworker Kit to meet her fiancee, Donny. To Ann's surprise, he comes from an extremely wealthy family.