What do you think?
Rate this book
Dangerous Pleasures: Stories
Eleven electric stories of lost women, gay men, curious children, and nostalgic adults from the bestselling author of Notes from an Exhibition.
A woman tries on a wig and it unlocks a side of herself she never knew existed. Visiting his old boarding school, a man is nearly undone by memories of a romantic encounter with a former classmate. When she introduces her girlfriend to her family, a young woman is shocked by her mother’s all-too-welcoming reaction. These are the stories of Patrick Gale: loving and warm, familiar and surprising, and all crafted with the precise wit that has made him one of Britain’s most beloved authors of short fiction.
The eleven stories that make up Dangerous Pleasures reveal the hidden joys and buried agonies that lie behind our friends’ and neighbors’ happy smiles. Gale understands that the moments that can alter our lives forever come quietly, unexpectedly—as soft and innocuous as a platinum-blond wig.
The Sunday Times calls Gale’s short fiction “nattily subversive, sexually ambiguous, intelligent and disturbing.” More than anything, his prose displays an unerring sense of humanity, in every brilliant story, and every perfect line.
A woman tries on a wig and it unlocks a side of herself she never knew existed. Visiting his old boarding school, a man is nearly undone by memories of a romantic encounter with a former classmate. When she introduces her girlfriend to her family, a young woman is shocked by her mother’s all-too-welcoming reaction. These are the stories of Patrick Gale: loving and warm, familiar and surprising, and all crafted with the precise wit that has made him one of Britain’s most beloved authors of short fiction.
The eleven stories that make up Dangerous Pleasures reveal the hidden joys and buried agonies that lie behind our friends’ and neighbors’ happy smiles. Gale understands that the moments that can alter our lives forever come quietly, unexpectedly—as soft and innocuous as a platinum-blond wig.
The Sunday Times calls Gale’s short fiction “nattily subversive, sexually ambiguous, intelligent and disturbing.” More than anything, his prose displays an unerring sense of humanity, in every brilliant story, and every perfect line.
288 pages, Kindle Edition
Published August 30, 2016
23 people are currently reading
124 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Gale
42 books714 followersPatrick was born on 31 January 1962 on the Isle of Wight, where his father was prison governor at Camp Hill, as his grandfather had been at nearby Parkhurst. He was the youngest of four; one sister, two brothers, spread over ten years. The family moved to London, where his father ran Wandsworth Prison, then to Winchester. At eight Patrick began boarding as a Winchester College Quirister at the cathedral choir school, Pilgrim's. At thirteen he went on to Winchester College. He finished his formal education with an English degree from New College, Oxford in 1983.
He has never had a grown-up job. For three years he lived at a succession of addresses, from a Notting Hill bedsit to a crumbling French chateau. While working on his first novels he eked out his slender income with odd jobs; as a typist, a singing waiter, a designer's secretary, a ghost-writer for an encyclopedia of the musical and, increasingly, as a book reviewer.
His first two novels, The Aerodynamics of Pork and Ease were published by Abacus on the same day in June 1986. The following year he moved to Camelford near the north coast of Cornwall and began a love affair with the county that has fed his work ever since.
He now lives in the far west, on a farm near Land's End with his husband, Aidan Hicks. There they raise beef cattle and grow barley. Patrick is obsessed with the garden they have created in what must be one of England's windiest sites and deeply resents the time his writing makes him spend away from working in it. As well as gardening, he plays both the modern and baroque cello. His chief extravagance in life is opera tickets.
He has never had a grown-up job. For three years he lived at a succession of addresses, from a Notting Hill bedsit to a crumbling French chateau. While working on his first novels he eked out his slender income with odd jobs; as a typist, a singing waiter, a designer's secretary, a ghost-writer for an encyclopedia of the musical and, increasingly, as a book reviewer.
His first two novels, The Aerodynamics of Pork and Ease were published by Abacus on the same day in June 1986. The following year he moved to Camelford near the north coast of Cornwall and began a love affair with the county that has fed his work ever since.
He now lives in the far west, on a farm near Land's End with his husband, Aidan Hicks. There they raise beef cattle and grow barley. Patrick is obsessed with the garden they have created in what must be one of England's windiest sites and deeply resents the time his writing makes him spend away from working in it. As well as gardening, he plays both the modern and baroque cello. His chief extravagance in life is opera tickets.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
January 29, 2026
Gale Project #9
As many know, short stories are probably my LEAST favorite form of fiction - the amuse-gueule of the lit world. But these are all really well-done, not a real clunker in any of the eleven included here, and only a few leaving me craving more - although a couple could probably have been elongated into at least novellas. I think the form frees up the author - three of them border on the scandalous, which I've never encountered in his longer fiction.
As many know, short stories are probably my LEAST favorite form of fiction - the amuse-gueule of the lit world. But these are all really well-done, not a real clunker in any of the eleven included here, and only a few leaving me craving more - although a couple could probably have been elongated into at least novellas. I think the form frees up the author - three of them border on the scandalous, which I've never encountered in his longer fiction.
January 11, 2023
I have admired Patrick Gale since coming across an excerpt from Rough Music (which I went on to read) in an anthology way to many years ago. He is a fine writer but one who perhaps I don't love, none of his books come to mind as essential, the sort I return to again and again. If anything he wrote is something I would read again it would be his stories. I really do like this collection and recommend it highly.
September 14, 2018
I’ve really enjoyed a number of Patrick Gale’s novels so I thought I’d try these short stories which have been collected over several years, I believe. Unlike his longer works they could do with another edit. The stories themselves are witty, unusual and enjoyable and I’ll remember some for a long time. He has a way of looking at the world slightly differently and I enjoy that very much.
May 23, 2023
Naughty, queer, impeccably written. What more could a gal ask for?
August 29, 2012
I am a fan of Patrick's work and I also like short stories on occasion. Rather than review each story I'll give you an overview as you will, after all, be buying the whole collection.
This collection is pretty varied, some that have an almost Stephen King-ness about them with unexpected gothic twists ('Wig', 'Wheee!', 'A Slight Chill'), some include great descriptive prose that really conjure up the mood of the characters and their surroundings ('Borneo', 'Old Boys'), some seem like the start of something the could have been bigger ('Choking, 'Old Boys').
The stand outs are 'Borneo' a subtle tail of coffee mornings and feelings, 'Wheee!' not how you expect a funeral party to end and 'Choking' because of its humour, unpredictable turn and complexity of how different relationships cause us to lie.
There was only one that really didn't work for me which was 'Dangerous Pleasures' itself which started with parents witnessing their daughter dying of an AIDS related illness and then went to take, what I felt was an entirely unrealistic and inappropriate (if not predictable) turn.
If you like short stories that will stay in your mind after you have finished them and leave you with a wondering feeling then this is a great collection for you. Patrick's fans would not be disappointed either.
This collection is pretty varied, some that have an almost Stephen King-ness about them with unexpected gothic twists ('Wig', 'Wheee!', 'A Slight Chill'), some include great descriptive prose that really conjure up the mood of the characters and their surroundings ('Borneo', 'Old Boys'), some seem like the start of something the could have been bigger ('Choking, 'Old Boys').
The stand outs are 'Borneo' a subtle tail of coffee mornings and feelings, 'Wheee!' not how you expect a funeral party to end and 'Choking' because of its humour, unpredictable turn and complexity of how different relationships cause us to lie.
There was only one that really didn't work for me which was 'Dangerous Pleasures' itself which started with parents witnessing their daughter dying of an AIDS related illness and then went to take, what I felt was an entirely unrealistic and inappropriate (if not predictable) turn.
If you like short stories that will stay in your mind after you have finished them and leave you with a wondering feeling then this is a great collection for you. Patrick's fans would not be disappointed either.
August 12, 2020
A captivating collection of short stories by Patrick Gale with plenty of twists to keep the reader in suspense. Rarely a dull moment in these rather steamy short stories, they are full of characters who break with convention and seek, frequently through 'dangerous pleasure', to break with the norm. I loved the sensitivity of 'Take Nothing With You' but these stories have a sharpness, sexiness and wit that raise Gale higher in my estimation!
September 11, 2019
Im not a lover of short stories but thought I would try this one. Some of these make for uncomfortable reading. I usually like to be forewarned of in depth delving into oral sex so that I can run in the opposite direction. I have loved other books by this author but was so glad to be finished with this one. Would not recommend.
March 3, 2025
Nigh on a dozen tales all of which, as described on the cover, are "sly, cool and mischievous", more often than not with a teasing ending, but ideal to take away when visiting family so as not to find it necessary to sneak off and finish a novel-sized book (though unnecessary when hockey and rugby matches were on the agenda). None of which failed to entertain.
July 31, 2018
Interesting group of stories, with a twist or two to keep you uncomfortable and thinking.
September 7, 2020
I usually love short stories, but I found these to be choppy, seemingly unfinished and very frustrating to read.
August 1, 2024
Yes I did enjoy these, even if I don’t usually like short stories. Still would have preferred them to be proper novels though
November 21, 2018
Witty, entertaining collection of short stories.
October 12, 2018
Not so dangerous.
One of the stories " Other Men's Sweetness's " didn't go in chronological order it seemed like the pages were mixed up. I didn't enjoy any of the stories they were dated and boring.
One of the stories " Other Men's Sweetness's " didn't go in chronological order it seemed like the pages were mixed up. I didn't enjoy any of the stories they were dated and boring.
February 13, 2009
Such a good collection of short stories by Patrick Gale; I really felt for some of the characters and wished that some of the stories were full length - it would have been worth it.
May 18, 2016
Short stories are not something I would normally read,but then this is Patrick Gale ! To me he is the male counterpart of Mary Wesley.Wonderful charcters,quirky stories,giggles and gasps.
December 1, 2014
A delicious and dark compilation of short stories
Read
August 8, 2009Not a fan of short stories!
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews