A dozen stories: a dozen ways of looking at love, or the lack of love. Over five previous collections, A. L. Kennedy has shown herself to be a master of the short form, with a perfect way with sentences and a voice so distinct as to be instantly recognisable.
The dazzling new collection from the Costa Prize-winning author of Day and The Blue Book.
She doesn’t ever lie to him unless it’s for the best.
A husband and wife wait for a train as their relationship unspools silently around them. A woman contemplates the idea of her lover dying as she queues in a bank. An almost impossibly uncomfortably lunch culminates in a passionate kiss. In this dazzling collection of stories lies the battlefield of the heart, where characters who have suffered somehow emerge – haltingly, awkwardly – into the astonishment of intimacy.
A. L. Kennedy has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and has won a host of other awards – including the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day. She lives in London and is a part-time lecturer in creative writing at Warwick University.
“One of the most consistently dazzling writers of her generation... Kennedy's stories are a little like love: no matter how many times they break your heart, you still come back for more. This collection proves, once again, that it is always worth it.”
Katy Guest, Independent on Sunday
“Kennedy is brilliantly, painfully funny about the fault-lines and disaster zones of the typical relationship”
The Times
“This book celebrates love like a hungry dog celebrates the corpse of a rabbit... Kennedy is, if you like, the Anti-Cartland... Magnificently bleak.”
Jojo Moyes, Independent
“It is Kennedy’s portrayal of the difficulty, if not seeming impossibility, of connecting with other people that makes these stories so moving… Kennedy’s disjointed, angular style and weird, displaced atmospherics really work”
Lionel Shriver, Financial Times
“A.L. Kennedy's masterful new collection... Stories appear to roam chaotically, like the mind, but of course they are neat, perfect messes.”
Vicky Allan, Herald
“The book is filled with lyrical beauty, wry humour and acute observation, imbued by a willingness to dig deep and give voice to the reader’s rawest emotions. All the Rage is an outstanding collection, full of stories to be savoured.”
Ally Nichol, List
“[Kennedy] is the god of her own godless world. Her prose moves in more mysterious ways than mere comprehension will allow.”
Tom Adair, Scotland on Sunday
“A satisfying diversity of experience and insight.”
James Purdon, Literary Review
“Full of moments of risk, which Kennedy's characters handle self-consciously and with care... She strings lyrical sentences together effortlessly.”
Sheena Joughin, Times Literary Supplement
“Beautifully crafted... It would be impossible not to admire these stories.”
Cressida Connolly, Spectator
“Kennedy dissects the small intimacies of inner thought and holds them palm-up, naked, there for our observation and evaluation. Her prose is typically direct, her sentences clear cut and yet capable of great tenderness.”
Clare Wigfall, Observer
“Full of heartache and the ways in which we hurt each other, and ourselves... Fans of Kennedy's quirky expressionism won't be disappointed.”
Sunday Times
“Evidence that, at her best, there’s no-one to touch Kennedy.”
Neil Stewart, Civilian
“Full of challenges and beauty.”
Stylist
“This is a sure-footed and intelligently organized collection. These small pieces encompass an extensive emotional territory”
Chris Power, Guardian
“An arresting collection that blends poetic imagery, raw emotion and cerebral insight”
