About this item
An acutely observed, evocative collection of short stories blending fiction, biography, and memoir--from a Booker-longlisted author.Evocative, sensual, and tender, these stories confront our reality culture and interrogate our relationship with iconic figures, coming to life at the boundary between reality and fiction.A woman emerging from mourning spends her savings on a fur coat, a coat she will wear to a dance that will change her life. A professor of cardiovascular physiology lingers on the cusp of consciousness as he waits for his new heart to be delivered, still beating, from another body--and is carried on a tidal wave of memories to an attic room half a century ago. Visiting Sylvia Plath's grave in Yorkshire, the author imagines a conversation with the poet, a fellow North American who settled in grey England.
About the Author
REVIEWSUNEXPLODED'Unexploded is like a piece of finely wrought ironwork, uncommonly delicate but at the same time astonishingly strong and tensile; it's a novel of staggering elegance and beauty.' THE INDEPENDENT'Full of simmering tension, resentment and unexpressed passion... A bold, cleverly-told story from a writer who knows exactly what she's doing. I'd be happy (and not surprised) to see it on the Man Booker shortlist.' THE OBSERVER'Unexploded is an intelligent, perceptive novel by a writer of great descriptive power... Like her modernist forebears, Macleod knows that life and death, the terrible and the mundane always co-exist - her genius lies in illustrating these truths while simultaneously spinning a bona fide pageturner.' THE DAILY MAIL'The plot is fast-paced and engaging, the characters are compelling, and the descriptions of wartime Brighton are pin-sharp... The novel's denouement is as heart-rending as it is unexpected.' THE FINANCIAL TIMES'An exploration of the xenophobia and neurosis unleashed in times of national crisis . . .MacLeod remains one of the most astute... writing today.' THE GUARDIAN'redemptive...readable and entertaining' THE TIMES'...the author's grasp of emotions, and history of art as well as politics, lend depth and charge... [There is also] the sensuality of MacLeod's prose, whether dealing with art, desire or love; and her uncanny way of allowing us to experience the thought processes of her characters as if they are traversing our own brain synapses.' THE INDEPENDENT ON SUNDAY'Unexploded is an unforgettable book. With exquisitely researched and rendered detail, the author plunges us into the panic and paranoia of war, fusing international politics, national politics and family politics in her powerful study of hypocrisy, oppression, cultural misunderstanding and desire.' BIDISHA'Love, fear and prejudice are all skilfully anatomised in this compellingly intimate exploration of life in war time Brighton.' JANE ROGERS'Finely wrought, moving and haunting. What a wonderful novel this is. Bravo Alison MacLeod.' POLLY SAMSON'Macleod is astute, a good judge of the human condition, a writer able to create a powerful sense of place and time... Highly recommended.' BOOKMUNCH*****FIFTEEN MODERN TALES OF ATTRACTION:'Alison MacLeod's collection of stories is a baker's dozen of excellence book-ended by brilliance... [T]he whole is ably piloted by MacLeod's total and impressive control of her material. Highly recommended.' TIME OUT'MacLeod's fictions are modern indeed. They are fragmentary evocations of desire and its mysteries, passing glimpses into minds and hearts.... [Her] characters are strong, and they are worth listening to...' THE GUARDIAN'MacLeod's strike rate is uniformly high. The opening story, "so that the land was darkened", can stand for her strengths.
