A jilted lover skirts the edges of time and place as she walks the streets of London at night; a woman returns to the scene of her honeymoon without her husband; a bereft daughter traces her relationship with her mother as she slowly packs up a house in the aftermath of death. In this brilliant collection of intimate and intense stories, Michele Roberts takes us to nineteenth century Venice, 1970s England, modern-day France and beyond. Here too are Tristram and Isolde with a twist; George Sand, sick in Venice with her unfaithful lover; and the bitter maid taking care of young Adele: both forced out of Rochester's home to make way for the passions of Jane Eyre. . . With her subversive, often witty, exploration of women's desires, memory, grief, love and betrayal, Michele Roberts demonstrates once again why she remains one of Britain's most invigorating writers.
Mud: Stories of Sex and Love
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** 'Roberts's greatest skill is the insight with which she writes about women caught up in heightened states of awareness . . . her writing breaks new ground (THE TIMES )
** 'This is an exhilarating collection of stories suffused with a wry wit and a warm - even hot - heartedness. Writing of such a high calibre can make you feel that the life of the mind is everything, that the acute observation and intelligence of the w (Susie Boyt, FINANCIAL TIMES )
** 'Roberts's latest collection of short stories offfers not only the poetry of her exquisite sensibilites but a saturnalian experience . . . The short story is an intimate, subtle and enigmatic form: Michele Roberts reminds us tin this virtuoso collection that she in one of our foremost practitioners of the art (Stevie Davies, GUARDIAN )
** 'This is an exhilarating collection of stories suffused with a wry wit and a warm - even hot - heartedness. Writing of such a high calibre can make you feel that the life of the mind is everything, that the acute observation and intelligence of the w (Susie Boyt, FINANCIAL TIMES )
** 'Roberts's latest collection of short stories offfers not only the poetry of her exquisite sensibilites but a saturnalian experience . . . The short story is an intimate, subtle and enigmatic form: Michele Roberts reminds us tin this virtuoso collection that she in one of our foremost practitioners of the art (Stevie Davies, GUARDIAN )
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* From the highly acclaimed poet and novelist, winner of fiction prizes and wonderful reviews, comes a new collection of stories
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Susie B
TOP 50 REVIEWER
Format:Paperback
Michele Roberts' latest short story collection: 'Mud: Stories of Sex and Love' provides just what the title promises and is a wonderfully intimate and sometimes unsettling exploration of the powerful desires of women.
In this collection we see a young widow returning to Venice to stay at an hotel where she spent her honeymoon in the story 'Honeymoon Blues' which is a poignant and moving tale; in 'Tristram and Isolde' we listen to a young female describing her intense love of the man she is with, but when you get to the surprising end of this story you might need to go back and re-read it just to make sure you understand what is happening; in 'Flaneuse' we follow Polly as she walks the streets of London in her jewelled flip-flops, collecting little plugs of mud between her toes, before embarking on a very surprising adventure that involves her slipping over the edges of time; in 'Vegetarian in France' a woman takes revenge on her herbivore husband; and in 'Remembering George Sand' we become brief witnesses to Sand's liaison in Venice with her lover.
There are fourteen stories in total in this collection, and all of these stories are unusual, intriguing and original. Michele Roberts is a very perceptive writer with a sharp, but sensitive insight into women's sexual consciousness, and when you read a book by this author, you can see the colour, taste the flavour and really feel the texture of her writing. I always enjoy reading Michele Roberts and can recommend her novels and her short stories; if you have not read it yet, do consider her latest novel: Ignorance which is a wonderful story and one I very much enjoyed.
4 Stars.
Also recommended by this author: Daughters Of The House; The Visitation (A Women's Press classic) and Paper Houses: A Memoir of the 70s and Beyond.
In this collection we see a young widow returning to Venice to stay at an hotel where she spent her honeymoon in the story 'Honeymoon Blues' which is a poignant and moving tale; in 'Tristram and Isolde' we listen to a young female describing her intense love of the man she is with, but when you get to the surprising end of this story you might need to go back and re-read it just to make sure you understand what is happening; in 'Flaneuse' we follow Polly as she walks the streets of London in her jewelled flip-flops, collecting little plugs of mud between her toes, before embarking on a very surprising adventure that involves her slipping over the edges of time; in 'Vegetarian in France' a woman takes revenge on her herbivore husband; and in 'Remembering George Sand' we become brief witnesses to Sand's liaison in Venice with her lover.
There are fourteen stories in total in this collection, and all of these stories are unusual, intriguing and original. Michele Roberts is a very perceptive writer with a sharp, but sensitive insight into women's sexual consciousness, and when you read a book by this author, you can see the colour, taste the flavour and really feel the texture of her writing. I always enjoy reading Michele Roberts and can recommend her novels and her short stories; if you have not read it yet, do consider her latest novel: Ignorance which is a wonderful story and one I very much enjoyed.
4 Stars.
Also recommended by this author: Daughters Of The House; The Visitation (A Women's Press classic) and Paper Houses: A Memoir of the 70s and Beyond.
5 of 6 people found the following review helpful
By kungfuangel
Format:Paperback
I first learnt about Michele Roberts while I was at university. One of the set books was 'The Wild Girl' (now republished as 'The Secret Gospel of Mary Magdalene'). I wasn't sure I'd like it - I'm not Christian - but the writing style she uses is immediate and visual and I found myself hooked from that point on. 'Mud' is the latest of her short story collections and, as you might expect, mud is a recurrent theme throughout the book. I was interested to know how she would incorporate it, but being the excellent writer she is, she makes it work perfectly. I always look forward to more from Michele Roberts and this collection just reaffirms my reason why: she's brilliant.
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