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A Lovely and Terrible Thing
Around you the world is swirling - you pass through a submerged town; the bakery, a wheelbarrow, a bike floating on its side on the main street, its steeples and trees barely visible through the thick water.In the distance the wreck of the gunship HMS Elizabeth lolls on a sandbank a couple of miles from the shore. Oil slicks the canals of the capital and even now in the midst of the bombing, the old men still tell tales of mermaids in the shallows. A pool, empty of water save for a brackish puddle at one end that has escaped the summer heat. A mess of fine bones and hanks of fur - the remains of mice or possums that have tumbled in, lured perhaps by the water. Two boys stand by its edge, watching a stolen bracelet flash through the humid air into the deep end.In bestselling author Chris Womersley's first short fiction collection, twenty macabre and deliciously enjoyable tales linked by the trickle of water that runs through them all will keep readers spellbound until their final, unexpected and unsettling twist...LONGLISTED FOR THE COLIN RODERICK AWARD 2020 PRAISE FOR CHRIS WOMERSLEY'By interweaving the trivial, the humorous and the grisliest of the grisly, Chris Womersley straps us in for a shivery ride.' New York Times'Unrepentantly daring.' The Age'Poetic and original.' The Monthly 'Brilliantly compelling.' Australian Women's Weekly'A master storyteller.' Australian Book ReviewPRAISE FOR A LOVELY AND TERRIBLE THING'Womersley has the chops to write prose that looks realist, then seamlessly turns vertiginously weird. His deployment of the macabre has sufficient restraint, his imagination sufficient turn, that these stories maintain the power to shock' The Australian'There is a formal elegance to his writing, even when the language is vernacular and the settings are domestic. This creates gloomily atmospheric stories with creepy momentum that bring to mind shades of Shirley Jackson and Edgar Allan Poe, but these are not horror stories per se.' The Age'These stories, published between 2006 and 2017, stand the test of time and assert Womersley as a powerful writer of the short form.... This collection is playful, and skips between the known and unknown, the palatable and uncomfortable. Like water, these stories are unpredictable, often turbulent, and contain great depth.' Readings Books'The stories are weird and wonderful, heartbreaking and inspiring ... It's one with the lot.' Herald Sun'A Lovely and Terrible Thing is a collection of taut, dark-edged, and very successful stories. Chris Womersley's novels have a well-deserved following, and this transition to short fiction will add to his readership and acclaim.' Australian Book Review'There is a poetic lilt to Womersley's prose. And he certainly knows how to end a story. In this collection the excellent endings are some leave you contemplating what might happen even after the story ends; others effect a satisfactory full stop to the narrative.' Artshub
- GenresShort Stories
222 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 1, 2019
11 people are currently reading
104 people want to read
About the author
Chris Womersley
21 books89 followersChris Womersley (born 1968 in Melbourne, Victoria) is an Australian author of crime fiction, short stories and poetry. He trained as a radio journalist and has travelled extensively to such places as India, South-East Asia, South America, North America, and West Africa.[1] He currently lives in Melbourne, VIC.
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
April 5, 2020
*https://theburgeoningbookshelf.blogsp...
Collections of short stories are hard to review. There will always be stories you loved and others you didn’t.
My interest in short story collections came after reading Roald Dahl’s Kiss Kiss, a collection of truly macabre short stories. There is an element of instant gratification with short stories.
A Lovely and Terrible Thing, a collection of 20 short stories, although entertaining didn’t quite live up to my expectations. The stories were strange and unsettling centred around drugs, mental illness, death, loss, family and relationships. Womersley’s characters are quite often bereaved, a loved one simply missing without explanation.
The stories will leave you with unanswered questions as he leaves the endings hazy, you are left to imagine what happens next. As is the case with my favourite story, The House of Special Purpose, where a couple’s son-in-law is left locked in a backyard compound he helped his in-laws build.
As you are left to read between the lines it is quite often what is not spelled out in the story that is most macabre.
A Lovely and Terrible Thing will appeal to readers who already enjoy anthologies and those who are struggling to concentrate on a full length novel.
*I received a copy from the publisher
Collections of short stories are hard to review. There will always be stories you loved and others you didn’t.
My interest in short story collections came after reading Roald Dahl’s Kiss Kiss, a collection of truly macabre short stories. There is an element of instant gratification with short stories.
A Lovely and Terrible Thing, a collection of 20 short stories, although entertaining didn’t quite live up to my expectations. The stories were strange and unsettling centred around drugs, mental illness, death, loss, family and relationships. Womersley’s characters are quite often bereaved, a loved one simply missing without explanation.
The stories will leave you with unanswered questions as he leaves the endings hazy, you are left to imagine what happens next. As is the case with my favourite story, The House of Special Purpose, where a couple’s son-in-law is left locked in a backyard compound he helped his in-laws build.
As you are left to read between the lines it is quite often what is not spelled out in the story that is most macabre.
A Lovely and Terrible Thing will appeal to readers who already enjoy anthologies and those who are struggling to concentrate on a full length novel.
*I received a copy from the publisher
owned-but-not-read
August 14, 2019Headful of Bees: 3/5
(10 pages)
Rather short and without much in the way of resolution. Some tangents that never seem to come to fruition, but also add to the world-building of the kind one would find in "random memories of oddness from the narrator's formative years". Interesting follow-through on what I thought was the least likely to actually happen. But the blurb of the book suggests these might take place in the same world or cross paths or something, so maybe it'll come up again and provide some more closure.
The House of Special Purpose:
(10 pages)
The Possibility of Water:
(10 pages)
The Very Edge of Things:
(10 pages)
Growing Pain:
(10 pages)
Petrichor:
(20 pages)
The Middle of Nowhere:
(16 pages)
The Other Side of Silence:
(12 pages)
The Mare's Nest:
(10 pages)
The Age of Terror:
(10 pages)
Dark the Water, So Deep the Night:
(26 pages)
Where There's Smoke:
(8 pages)
Season of Hope:
(14 pages)
A Lovely and Terrible Thing:
(16 pages)
Blood Brother:
(4 pages)
Crying Wolf:
(16 pages)
The Deep End:
(24 pages)
The Shed:
(10 pages)
Theories of Relativity:
(16 pages)
What the Darkness Said:
(14 pages)
(10 pages)
Rather short and without much in the way of resolution. Some tangents that never seem to come to fruition, but also add to the world-building of the kind one would find in "random memories of oddness from the narrator's formative years". Interesting follow-through on what I thought was the least likely to actually happen. But the blurb of the book suggests these might take place in the same world or cross paths or something, so maybe it'll come up again and provide some more closure.
The House of Special Purpose:
(10 pages)
The Possibility of Water:
(10 pages)
The Very Edge of Things:
(10 pages)
Growing Pain:
(10 pages)
Petrichor:
(20 pages)
The Middle of Nowhere:
(16 pages)
The Other Side of Silence:
(12 pages)
The Mare's Nest:
(10 pages)
The Age of Terror:
(10 pages)
Dark the Water, So Deep the Night:
(26 pages)
Where There's Smoke:
(8 pages)
Season of Hope:
(14 pages)
A Lovely and Terrible Thing:
(16 pages)
Blood Brother:
(4 pages)
Crying Wolf:
(16 pages)
The Deep End:
(24 pages)
The Shed:
(10 pages)
Theories of Relativity:
(16 pages)
What the Darkness Said:
(14 pages)
July 25, 2020
A rather mediocre collection of short stories that I imagine were designed to be thought-provoking and vital to the Australian narrative, there was a disconnect for me here. I didn't find myself enjoying any of these in particular, and there was a complete and utter lack of connection to these stories. The drug motifs were pervasive but didn't lead to much, and there was a complete lack of the stories actually going anywhere. This one was a real miss for me, and I completely lost interest in it (I did have to finish it, however- I don't like leaving them unread). Hoping my next ones are a bit better.
June 23, 2019
I don't read many short story collections. However, when an advance copy of Chris Womersley's first collection of short stories arrived bringing promise of 'twenty macabre and deliciously enjoyable tales', I decided to give it a go.
The majority of the stories in A Lovely and Terrible Thing were told in first person, and included characters of both sexes and a variety of ages, family demographics and socio-economic situations. Living in Melbourne I enjoyed the references to my city within the stories and recognised many of the settings.
By far my favourite of the collection was The Deep End. It was just such a brilliant short story and everything I love about the genre. It was tense with a sense of foreboding and had a terrific surprise ending I did NOT see coming.
On the flip side though, Crying Wolf had such a devastating ending as to make me cross. The story was building to a climax and instead of giving the two main characters an other-worldly mind blowing ending, Womersley tears it away from the reader at the very last moment by way of a selfish act by one of the characters.
Perhaps this was done in an effort to show how easily lost opportunities can plague our lives and how close we can be to life changing events without the slightest hint of their existence or magnitude. Either way, I felt thoroughly robbed by the ending.
The other stories in the collection didn't really illicit much of a reader response from me and felt middle of the road. Perhaps this means short story collections aren't my thing or I need to read more of them.
In summary, A Lovely and Terrible Thing by Chris Womersley contained one outstanding short story, one infuriating one and eighteen others that were a solid read.
See my full review here: https://www.carpelibrum.net/2019/05/r... including my thoughts on short story collections in general.
* Copy courtesy of Pan Macmillan Australia *
The majority of the stories in A Lovely and Terrible Thing were told in first person, and included characters of both sexes and a variety of ages, family demographics and socio-economic situations. Living in Melbourne I enjoyed the references to my city within the stories and recognised many of the settings.
By far my favourite of the collection was The Deep End. It was just such a brilliant short story and everything I love about the genre. It was tense with a sense of foreboding and had a terrific surprise ending I did NOT see coming.
On the flip side though, Crying Wolf had such a devastating ending as to make me cross. The story was building to a climax and instead of giving the two main characters an other-worldly mind blowing ending, Womersley tears it away from the reader at the very last moment by way of a selfish act by one of the characters.
Perhaps this was done in an effort to show how easily lost opportunities can plague our lives and how close we can be to life changing events without the slightest hint of their existence or magnitude. Either way, I felt thoroughly robbed by the ending.
The other stories in the collection didn't really illicit much of a reader response from me and felt middle of the road. Perhaps this means short story collections aren't my thing or I need to read more of them.
In summary, A Lovely and Terrible Thing by Chris Womersley contained one outstanding short story, one infuriating one and eighteen others that were a solid read.
See my full review here: https://www.carpelibrum.net/2019/05/r... including my thoughts on short story collections in general.
* Copy courtesy of Pan Macmillan Australia *
June 30, 2019
A great read. Short stories with twists.
Read
February 25, 2020One of the best collection of short stories I've read. My favourites are 'Where There's Smoke' and 'The Deep End.' I don't know what it is about Womersley's writing but I find it highly relatable and unpretentious - poetic, yet also grounded and visceral. He never bores me.
January 1, 2021
http://jessjustreads.com
Chris Womersley’s A Lovely and Terrible Thing is a memorable collection of twenty short stories, each as vivid and original as the next.
It’s hard to try and capture a concurrent theme in this work, or even a message that runs within each story. They’re all very different. Whilst most of the short stories are written in first person, the protagonists of each story are all unique creations. Some you sympathise with, or grow to love. Others you forget about the second the story is over, because they’re not the most memorable aspect of the story — and weren’t intended to be.
Each story has the potential to linger in your mind, leave you thinking. And the beauty of a short story collection is not every story will resonate with every reader. Everything is open to interpretation.
“I’m watching Frank and something happens to him as he tells his story. Right in front of my eyes he seems to age. He sags in his seat. Earlier you could see the guy he might have been twenty years ago, before whatever happened to him happened, but now he resembles an old bunyip with a comb-over.”
THE VERY EDGE OF THINGS
My favourites from the collection include The House of Special Purpose, for it’s ominous, tense plot and the sense of dread that builds throughout; Growing Pain, for it’s fantastical, other-worldly feel, and how it follows a character at the cusp of her teen years, a seemingly domestic setting, but she’s going through something a reader cannot relate to; The Mare’s Nest, for the secrets it doesn’t reveal; The Deep End, for the build up, the tension, and the jaw-dropping, incredibly juicy ending; and Theories of Relativity, for establishing familial dynamic in so few words, for circling back to earlier moments in such little time, and for that haunting ending that I had to re-read just to believe it was real.
“After several minutes I became aware — by what precise means I couldn’t say — that we were being observed. There was a twitch in the bushes, followed by an intimation of snuffling. Again the sound of small bells. My father breathed heavily. His hand was warm and dry.”
THE MARE’S NEST
Traversing a number of different emotions from heartache to heartfelt, Chris’ short stories explore death, family, friendship, and expectation, among many other subjects — where our lives ended up, versus where we thought they were, how we process grief and explain that to others, how close we come to death, or perhaps others brush it, and we find ourselves fascinated by it. You could spend a long time dissecting these stories and still find things to love about Chris’ writing. What a marvellous, wise collection of work — highly recommended.
“In the short walk across the lawn I had run through a variety of scenarios, all of which involved me emerging victorious from whatever altercation I was about to engage in, but now I was here, in the thick of it, my resolve ran from me like water.”
THE OTHER SIDE OF SILENCE
Recommended for readers of short stories, or lovers of literary fiction. A quick read, and engrossing. Can easily be devoured in one sitting. A Lovely and Terrible Thing is filled with unpredictable characters and stories, and will leave you craving more.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
Chris Womersley’s A Lovely and Terrible Thing is a memorable collection of twenty short stories, each as vivid and original as the next.
It’s hard to try and capture a concurrent theme in this work, or even a message that runs within each story. They’re all very different. Whilst most of the short stories are written in first person, the protagonists of each story are all unique creations. Some you sympathise with, or grow to love. Others you forget about the second the story is over, because they’re not the most memorable aspect of the story — and weren’t intended to be.
Each story has the potential to linger in your mind, leave you thinking. And the beauty of a short story collection is not every story will resonate with every reader. Everything is open to interpretation.
“I’m watching Frank and something happens to him as he tells his story. Right in front of my eyes he seems to age. He sags in his seat. Earlier you could see the guy he might have been twenty years ago, before whatever happened to him happened, but now he resembles an old bunyip with a comb-over.”
THE VERY EDGE OF THINGS
My favourites from the collection include The House of Special Purpose, for it’s ominous, tense plot and the sense of dread that builds throughout; Growing Pain, for it’s fantastical, other-worldly feel, and how it follows a character at the cusp of her teen years, a seemingly domestic setting, but she’s going through something a reader cannot relate to; The Mare’s Nest, for the secrets it doesn’t reveal; The Deep End, for the build up, the tension, and the jaw-dropping, incredibly juicy ending; and Theories of Relativity, for establishing familial dynamic in so few words, for circling back to earlier moments in such little time, and for that haunting ending that I had to re-read just to believe it was real.
“After several minutes I became aware — by what precise means I couldn’t say — that we were being observed. There was a twitch in the bushes, followed by an intimation of snuffling. Again the sound of small bells. My father breathed heavily. His hand was warm and dry.”
THE MARE’S NEST
Traversing a number of different emotions from heartache to heartfelt, Chris’ short stories explore death, family, friendship, and expectation, among many other subjects — where our lives ended up, versus where we thought they were, how we process grief and explain that to others, how close we come to death, or perhaps others brush it, and we find ourselves fascinated by it. You could spend a long time dissecting these stories and still find things to love about Chris’ writing. What a marvellous, wise collection of work — highly recommended.
“In the short walk across the lawn I had run through a variety of scenarios, all of which involved me emerging victorious from whatever altercation I was about to engage in, but now I was here, in the thick of it, my resolve ran from me like water.”
THE OTHER SIDE OF SILENCE
Recommended for readers of short stories, or lovers of literary fiction. A quick read, and engrossing. Can easily be devoured in one sitting. A Lovely and Terrible Thing is filled with unpredictable characters and stories, and will leave you craving more.
Thank you to the publisher for sending me a review copy in exchange for an honest review.
December 30, 2025
A collection of twenty short stories from a Victorian author. I have to say I was disappointed with the lack of sense of place. The author seems most familiar with Melbourne, and the descriptions are certainly Australian —featuring recognisable areas and capturing that dead-end, post-war-housing, overgrown-block depression of the suburbs. But there’s something really lacking here. A lost opportunity. The environment and settings aren’t used effectively and have little impact. This collection isn’t solidly defined but it seems to market itself most as ‘stories of suspense’ — to build that tense and stifling atmosphere, you really need to utilise the environment/setting, but with one exception (a story taking place at an empty public swimming pool late at night), Womersley neglects this all-important feature.
The stories are well-written, and the concepts are there, but the execution is fumbled. My favourite story (and the one with the strongest plot and most coherent structure) was Theories of Relativity — the story was fantastic and the ending was perfect, but descriptions could have elevated it even more. Two boys going hunting with their father — what a perfect opportunity to describe the eerie sounds, smells, and visuals of the Australian bushland, and build an atmospheric tension. But once again, the scenery passes by without much attention from Womersley.
That being said, I still enjoyed these stories and felt the characters were fleshed out, the plots were paced well, and the concepts were interesting. I just wish we’d had some atmosphere.
The stories are well-written, and the concepts are there, but the execution is fumbled. My favourite story (and the one with the strongest plot and most coherent structure) was Theories of Relativity — the story was fantastic and the ending was perfect, but descriptions could have elevated it even more. Two boys going hunting with their father — what a perfect opportunity to describe the eerie sounds, smells, and visuals of the Australian bushland, and build an atmospheric tension. But once again, the scenery passes by without much attention from Womersley.
That being said, I still enjoyed these stories and felt the characters were fleshed out, the plots were paced well, and the concepts were interesting. I just wish we’d had some atmosphere.
May 22, 2019
(3.5) In his earlier writing ("Bereft", "Cairo", and "City of Crows"), Womersley ably demonstrated his ability to evoke mood and often to take readers beyond their comfort zones. This talent was certainly the focus in this collection of short stories. Although more than a handful of the stories left me either unmoved or confused, those that seemed the closest to what I would describe as "plausible" rather than "macabre" were contrastingly superb.
Several stories that portrayed family relationships, between parents and children and between siblings, stood out for me as the most successful. Grief became silent revenge for a couple bereaved by their daughter's death in "The Other Side of Silence"; a son's tender love is expressed for his father, a man plagued by his "conspiracies and madness" in "The Mare's Nest"; a boy is betrayed by those who offer him a funereal ritual for his beloved mother in "Dark the Water, So Deep the Night"; a son finds retribution for his father's abusive discipline in "Theories of Relativity". Both the pain and love projected in these, as well as the concluding twists that Womersley plotted, showcased his talent and took my breath away. I wish that this had been the case with the majority of the stories.
Several stories that portrayed family relationships, between parents and children and between siblings, stood out for me as the most successful. Grief became silent revenge for a couple bereaved by their daughter's death in "The Other Side of Silence"; a son's tender love is expressed for his father, a man plagued by his "conspiracies and madness" in "The Mare's Nest"; a boy is betrayed by those who offer him a funereal ritual for his beloved mother in "Dark the Water, So Deep the Night"; a son finds retribution for his father's abusive discipline in "Theories of Relativity". Both the pain and love projected in these, as well as the concluding twists that Womersley plotted, showcased his talent and took my breath away. I wish that this had been the case with the majority of the stories.
March 4, 2019
In A Lovely and Terrible Thing, Chris Womersley has secured himself as one of Australia’s finest short-story writers.
Unflinchingly macabre and gloriously twisted, Womersley touches on some of life’s darker elements to display a cutting image of contemporary life. Each story is brought to life with a hint of absurdity, and Womersley’s dry humour makes for distressing yet compulsive reads.
I love short-stories, and I have endless respect for those authors who excel at them. There is a subtlety to each story in this collection that magnifies life’s smaller moments and turns them into calamitous, yet oddly comforting, events.
Unflinchingly macabre and gloriously twisted, Womersley touches on some of life’s darker elements to display a cutting image of contemporary life. Each story is brought to life with a hint of absurdity, and Womersley’s dry humour makes for distressing yet compulsive reads.
I love short-stories, and I have endless respect for those authors who excel at them. There is a subtlety to each story in this collection that magnifies life’s smaller moments and turns them into calamitous, yet oddly comforting, events.
June 16, 2019
I can't give this five stars, but it is close. There are some great stories in A Lovely and Terrible Thing by Chris Womersley. Many are quirky others almost macabre, but they keep you engaged to the point where you need to re-read the story, just to double check what you have read.
The majority of the stories are reasonably short, so a quick re-read is easy. Even found I re-read a couple that I particularly liked ('Theories of Relativity', which to me, must be almost the perfect short story.
Expect to be a little unsettled.
The majority of the stories are reasonably short, so a quick re-read is easy. Even found I re-read a couple that I particularly liked ('Theories of Relativity', which to me, must be almost the perfect short story.
Expect to be a little unsettled.
October 27, 2019
The title sums it up, really. Wonderfully disturbing stories from a writer who knows how to burrow underneath your skin and describe the uncanny in all its manifestations. I'd read a couple of the stories before, including the title story, as many had been published previously. The collection as a whole is very satisfying with water imagery providing a thread through stories which can be quite disparate in tone even as they predominantly dwell on the darker aspects of Australian life.
December 30, 2019
These stories encounter sinister and menacing places and people. Deftly written, they dwell in the territories of lonliness, difference and grief. Thank you to publishers who allow room for the imagination, and for short stories, in our literary landscape.
August 6, 2019
Beautifully written but some disturbing stories in here!
September 23, 2019
A great collection of short stories. Each one builds slowly with unsettling undertones constantly keeping you hooked.
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews