Four Bare Legs In a Bed

Description

'Stories told in such succulent prose that you wince at their brevity... a most exceptional debut' - Evening Standard Winner of the Somerset Maugham Award. Brilliant, funny and tragic, Four Bare Legs in a Bed is an outstanding and invigorating collection of short stories. In Simpson's singular and opulent voice, we hear of the mixed blessings of independence and marriage, of sex and babies. From a bed that transforms the lives of a struggling couple to a chorus of midwives telling the dramatic story of a birth, this is a playful, unique set of stories to treasure.

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.

These stories of sex pack a truly original pungency... kicking off belly-laughs or melting you with an apt phrase, Simpson makes a delectable debut * Mail on Sunday * Outstanding... You should read her * The Times * Dazzlingly original... Simpson's black-hearted humour is something to relish * Sunday Times * Absolutely brilliant... the only book this year that's made me sick with envy -- Julie Burchill The most sensuous writer in the land -- Fay Weldon