The Whore's Child

Description

'He is brilliant...one of the more beguiling chroniclers of his times' - The Times In this entrancing first collection of stories, a master storyteller focuses on a fresh and fascinating range of human behaviour, revealing himself as an even more versatile and accomplished writer than his acclaimed novels have shown.As with all Russo's characters, we warm to these newcomers almost in spite of themselves. In the title story, a septuagenarian nun resolutely invades the narrator's college writing workshop with an incredible saga; a seasoned Hollywood moviemaker uncovers a 25-year-old flame he never knew he'd harboured; a precious fifth-grader puzzles over life, love and baseball as he watches his parents' marriage dissolve; another child is forced into a harrowing cross-country escape; and an elderly couple rediscover the power - and misery - of their relationship during a long-awaited retreat to a hurricane-swept resort island.

Richard Russo won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize for his fifth novel, Empire Falls. He is also the author of Mohawk, The Risk Pool, Nobody's Fool, Straight Man, Bridge of Sighs and That Old Cape Magic. His original screenplay is the basis for Rowan Atkinson's film Keeping Mum. He lives with his wife in Maine.

A master at examining subtly, from a different angle each time, the tensions that arise in long-term relationships * The Times * Russo here confirms that he is equally skilled at shorter fiction that engagingly and shrewdly achieves through subtle humour exactly what it sets out to do * Irish Times * Russo has more than a dash of style and an almost infallible technique * Times Literary Supplement * This volume is the work of a consummate storyteller...his writing displays a warmth of wit and humour, along with an ability to inject drama into a narrative * Irish Independent *