Tales of Natural and Unnatural Catastrophes [Paperback]

‘Highsmith is a novelist whose books one can re-read many times. There are few of whom one can say that’

'Highsmith is a novelist whose books one can re-read many times. There are few of whom one can say that' Graham Greene 'Highsmith has an incredible talent for making these natural and unnatural errors into believable reportage. You could swear she's writing fact wrapped up in very sly fiction' San Francisco Chronicle 'Though Highsmith would no doubt disclaim any kinship with Jonathan Swift or Evelyn Waugh, the best of these stories is in the same tradition It is Highsmith's dark and savage humour, and the intelligence that informs her precise and hard-edged prose, which puts one in the mind of those authors' New York Newsday 'These stories leave us haunted with afterimages that will tremble - but stay in our minds' New Yorker

‘These stories leave us haunted with afterimages that will tremble - but stay in our minds’

‘Dark and savage humour ... precise and hard-edged prose’

A brilliant collection of stories, based on natural and unnatural catastrophes and exploring the macabre and its meaning. The stories range from midnight revelling in an East Austrian cemetery to a picnic for "crackpots" on the White House lawn. They also include the source of the tell-tale smells of Nabuti, the unsporting hiding place chosen by the Nuclear Control Committee for radio-active waste, and the crumbling defence tactics of a luxury high-rise against a crawling army that fumigation cannot kill. Other tales tell of how magic and horror stories followed in the wake of a furious whale, how miracle and revolution were launched when a Pope stubbed his toe, and how happiness came to a woman who thought she was Cleopatra.

Patricia Highsmith was born in Fort Worth, Texas, in 1921. Her first novel, Strangers On A Train, was made into a film by Alfred Hitchcock in 1951. The Talented Mr Ripley, published in 1955, was awarded the Edgar Allan Poe Scroll by the Mystery Writers of America and introduced the fascinating anti-hero Tom Ripley, who was to appear in many of her later crime novels. Patricia Highsmith died in Locarno, Switzerland, in February 1995. Her last novel, Small g: A Summer Idyll, was published posthumously just over a month later.