Hey Yeah Right Get A Life

Description

'There are short story writers who render the genre mere snipped-up sections of prose, the poor relation of the novel; and then there are those, like Simpson, who elevate it to an art form all of its own, who make you see its point' Maggie O'Farrell Helen Simpson's third collection is a bold, honest exploration of the trials and the rewards of motherhood. 'Her stories are - for those who, like me, recognise the truth in every word - like a reprieve... Sharp, poetic and marvellously witty' Kate Kellaway, Observer Here are tales of a highflyer stuck at an interminable Burns Night celebration, increasingly aware of the babysitter waiting for her at home; an exhausted mother longing for adult conversation but whose son unwittingly precludes it; and a teenage girl whose fraught encounter with a harried mum of one brings newfound appreciation for her own capable mother of four. Most strikingly of all we meet Dorrie, whose efforts to calm her tinderbox of a family leave her struggling to contain her own emotions. Hey Yeah Right Get a Life is a singular achievement- relatable, perceptive and utterly poignant. 'It's a brilliant, painful, funny and courageous book' Esther Freud, Guardian

Helen Simpson's sixth short-story collection, Cockfosters, follows Four Bare Legs in a Bed (1990), Dear George (1995), Hey Yeah Right Get a Life (2000), Constitutional (2005) and In-Flight Entertainment (2010). A Bunch of Fives: Selected Stories (2012) includes five stories from each of her first five collections. She has received the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, the Hawthornden Prize and the E.M.Forster Award. She lives in London.

It's a brilliant, painful, funny and courageous book -- Esther Freud * Guardian * Simply tremendous... She is a witch, with the surest hand in contemporary fiction -- Philip Hensher * Spectator * Her limpid, chaste, luscious fiction describes real lives -- John Lancaster * Daily Telegraph * Her stories are - for those who, like me, recognise the truth in every word - like a reprieve... Sharp, poetic and marvellously witty -- Kate Kellaway * Observer * Motherhood has long been a subscription-only sort of subject. Helen Simpson has found a way to tell it, and I hope that people beyond the constituency margins are listening -- Rachel Cusk * Evening Standard *