Lying in Bed [Kindle Edition]

Polly Samson's first collection of short stories reveals a woman steeped in the psychodrama of emotional manipulation. Even the youngest of her narrators are expert in beguiling their parents into a false sense of security, only to spring a fiendishly executed surprise on them which overturns the false assumptions of their adult world. In "Subterfuge", a minx of a teenager hoards lacy knickers at the back of her cupboard whilst meekly offering her navy blue pants to Mum for washing. The ruse is perfect, until sex and drugs rear their ugly head and Mum realises her little madam is a thorn in the family's side and swiftly removes her. Elsewhere, a thirtysomething woman regrets the child she will never have and settles for her childishly demanding husband--an open-ended denouement that hints at the endless mental agony of unfulfilled dreams. Meanwhile, her friend in "The Mermaid's Purse" makes her choice, finds a sperm donor and wreaks havoc in everyone's life but her own. Selfishness pays out, it seems, and the casualties are left to wreak revenge, or suffer in silence. Samson's skill lies in digging beneath that silence to communicate the warped tales we tell ourselves in order to survive. --Lilian Pizzichini

'Polly Samson is no minor talent ... prose that makes you miss your bus stop' GUARDIAN 'Highly intelligent, fresh and compelling. Samson has definitely made her mark' THE TIMES 'Samson's writing is fluent ... She has a slyness that occasionally recalls Roald Dahl' SUNDAY TIMES 'Samson is a sympathetic and observant narrator... these are clever, elegant pieces, complex, compact and memorable.' INDEPENDENT 'An engaging and unsettling collection.' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Her fluent emotional vocabulary and dark-edged descriptive clarity lend credence to some of her more proposterous conceits and give her fiction a disconcerting edge.' TIME OUT 'There is no denying Samson's inchoate talent.' NEW STATESMAN 'Polly Samson's first collection of short stories reveals a woman steeped in the psychodrama of emotional manipulation. Even the youngest of her narrators are expert in beguiling their parents into a false sense of security, only to spring a fiendishly executed surprise on them which overturns the false assumptions of their adult world. In "Subterfuge", a minx of a teenager hoards lacy knickers at the back of her cupboard whilst meekly offering her navy blue pants to Mum for washing. The ruse is perfect, until sex and drugs rear their ugly head and Mum realises her little madam is a thorn in the family's side and swiftly removes her. Elsewhere, a thirtysomething woman regrets the child she will never have and settles for her childishly demanding husband--an open-ended denouement that hints at the endless mental agony of unfulfilled dreams. Meanwhile, her friend in "The Mermaid's Purse" makes her choice, finds a sperm donor and wreaks havoc in everyone's life but her own. Selfishness pays out, it seems, and the casualties are left to wreak revenge, or suffer in silence. Samson's skill lies in digging beneath that silence to communicate the warped tales we tell ourselves in order to survive.' - Lilian Pizzichini, AMAZON.CO.UK REVIEW