First published 1988
A young widow stares at her husband's funeral arrangements and realizes she feels nothing. No tears come. No sorrow overwhelms her. Only surprise and shame at her own emptiness. This moment of brutal self-recognition opens Shirley Hazzard's collection of ten stories that examine how people navigate love's complications and life's unexpected turns. In the Italian countryside, a woman begins a forbidden affair with her cousin's husband, driven by passion and consumed by guilt. In suburban Connecticut, Harold, an awkward and isolated young man, discovers that his poetry can earn him the respect and acceptance he has always craved. Each story captures characters at pivotal moments when their carefully constructed lives crack open to reveal uncomfortable truths. Hazzard writes with precision about the gap between what people expect from relationships and what they actually receive, showing how ordinary people cope when reality refuses to match their hopes.
Genres: fiction, short-stories, literary-fiction, 20th-century, contemporary
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: character-study, slice-of-life
Setting: Italy, United States
Period: 20th-century
208 pages · Paperback · Penguin Books