Cockfosters

This collection is a joy

Bookseller

Helen Simpson is a vital (and pleasurable) voice

Melanie White, Independent on Sunday

These uplifting and sensitive tales act like a guide to ‘the next phase’ – whatever that may bring.

Imogen Lycett Green, Daily Mail

Cockfosters is elegant, sane, and – while remaining firmly rooted in ordinary life – gently ground-breaking.

Theo Tait, Sunday Times

Over the course of a quarter century, Simpson has assembled a body of work that delivers one of literature’s richest accounts of the post-war lives of girls and women.

Sarah Crown, Guardian

[Simpson’s] stories are chamber pieces, acutely observed domestic miniatures, and born of modesty.

Jon Day, five stars, Daily Telegraph

Reading Simpson’s stories makes you feel less alone in the world: she’s one of those writers who just seem to hit the nail on the head. She’s funny, too.

Cressida Connolly, Literary Review

Invigorating, aggressive wickedly funny short stories on the modern gender wars, exhausted motherhood and anxieties about work and getting older.

CA, four stars, Metro

From varifocals to the menopause, a virtuoso of the short story turns her attention to the ageing process.

Justine Jordan, Guardian

Elegant, understated and quietly funny stories.

Cathy Rentzenbrink, Stylist

Clever, affecting and frank, but above all, terrifically entertaining.

Stephanie Cross, Lady

Sometimes one gets the sense that her stories are some kind of futuristic instruments, wearing the disguise of the short story, planted into the heart of evolving contemporary life to take hyperaccurate readings of the inner weather and shifting equilibria of a certain class of society.

Neel Mukherjee, Spectator

Cockfosters isn’t just carefully crafted stories, Helen Simpson has also tackled some pertinent feminist issues in an incredibly sharp, honest and accessible way.

Georgie Lane-Godfrey, four stars, Stylist

Sad and tender, sometimes political or formally inventive, and always beautifully observed.

Belfast Telegraph Morning

Exhibits a wit and tenderness that makes her one of our best story writers.

Max Liu, Independent

In my stocking, to savour during the fug I hope to find [this book].

Sara Wheeler, Observer

For Christmas, I’d like [this book].

Kate Kellaway, Observer

Warm, funny and acutely observed.

Lorien Kite, Financial Times

Themes of dealing with the force of ever-looming old age, the ups and downs of friendship, marriage and love, and the strength of female identity are expertly weaved together in Simpson’s crafty concoction of social commentary and character study. This is all of our lives and social taboos laid bare in comedic style, with the trials and oddities of modern life deftly illuminated.

Cheryl Caira, Scottish Woman

Bitterly comic.

Katy Guest, Independent on Sunday

A collection of warm and witty gems reflecting the complexities of modern life.

Kate Figes, Mail on Sunday

An unmissable collection of near-perfect short stories.

Saga Magazine

Humour folded into every story.

Maggie Fergusson, Intelligent Life

Full of minutely observed details of life that sparkle in her hands: funny, knowing, true. She is a master of dialogue… She can get more life onto a page than most can in twenty… An exceptional collection of stories.

Skinny

Simpson has a fine ear for the cadence of everyday speech.

Emily Rhodes, Times Literary Supplement

Simpson sharpens her fiction to a fine point, the better to dig into social wounds

Anthony Cummins, New Statesman

A slim and fairly devastating volume... Simpson is truthful, funny, and sharp… The result is elegant, sane and, while remaining fairly rooted in ordinary life, gently ground-breaking.

Theo Tait, Sunday Times

A collection of well-turned short fiction.

William Leith, Evening Standard

Helen Simpson has been hailed as a true chronicler of what it means to be a woman. Her new collection explores the menopause years, to which there is no better, braver or funnier guide than Simpson.

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