This collection combines stories from his previous books THE SILVER AGE and THREE EVENINGS. In these stories James Lasdun views greed and excess from illuminating angles and the impulse of those who own too much to dispossess themselves. He examines the callousness by which adults lose influence over children and the instinctive tactics devised by children for gaining power over adults. He calls corruption, in its ingenious guises, to account while acknowledging the perverse fascination of human foibles. Each story casts a curious spell, in which objects and the natural world are tinged with an aura of the magical. A sensuous lyricism of prose governed by a witty and subtle intelligence brings these stories their very special flavour.
James Lasdun’s books include The Fall Guy and Give Me Everything You Have: On Being Stalked. He teaches creative writing at Columbia University and reviews regularly for the Guardian. His work has been filmed by Bernardo Bertolucci (Besieged) and he co-wrote the films Sunday, which won Best Feature and Best Screenplay awards at Sundance, and Signs and Wonders, starring Charlotte Rampling and Stellan Skarsgård.
