The Complete Stories: Volume One

by Morley Callaghan

The complete short fiction of Morley Callaghan appears as he comes into full recognition as one of the singular storytellers of our time. In four volumes, several stories are collected for the first time, two of which—“An Autumn Penitent” and “In His Own Country”—have been out of print for decades.

Genres: Short Stories

323 pages, Paperback

First published April 7, 2003

About the author

Edward Morley Callaghan was a Canadian novelist, short story writer, playwright, and TV and radio personality.

Reviews

[Shawn · Rating 4 out of 5]

A succinct summation would be: people of all ages and all walks of life experience a pivotal moment in their lives that subtly alter or completely shatter their perspectives. Such as the realization that love is both fleeting and subtle, that you've been in denial and that dam has collapsed and cold reality is pouring in around your ankles or maybe you've made the wrong decision and would really really appreciate a mulligan.

Callaghan handles such things with practically zero melodrama; his stories are snappy and to the point typically dealing with working class morality. A guy gets flummoxed and doesn't understand why his family rejects the girl he brought home to introduce. A stolen baseball cap bridges a painful gap between father and son, an old woman's terrible singing eventually causes great shame for the community, and story about a man who can't reconcile his simultaneous attraction and repulsion to religion, so he commits a heinous act are a few standout selections from me.

I love a good collection of short stories, and this scratched that itch. Also, very progressive for when it was written.