Several Deceptions: Four Novellas - Softcover

Stevenson, Reader In English Jane

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0618049339 ISBN 13: 9780618049332

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2000

Synopsis

Published to wide acclaim in England, "Several Deceptions" introduces a new writer with a fresh voice, making her debut with four entertaining novellas.

About this title

Review:

Several Deceptions, Jane Stevenson's first work of fiction, explores the topic of deceit through four quite distinct novellas: "The Island of the Day Before Yesterday"; "Law and Order"; "The Colonel and Judy O'Grady" and "Crossing the Water". The settings are bourgeois, urbane--"Crossing the Water" is country-house farce--often giving the impression of an author "in the know" and playing with that knowledge. "In retrospect, I am strongly inclined to blame the whole thing on Umberto Eco" begins "The Island...", setting the scene for its semiotic indulgence in the well-worn idea of creating a woman's life through archive and story. Nemesis looms, however: the ways in which cleverness can damage, or destroy, itself becoming a central theme of the book. A perennial theme, of course, and that may be why it's easy to get a sense that you've heard, or seen, these stories before: there's a touch of Rope about the brilliance of the University lawyer and his circle in "Law and Order", a cross-dressing twist to "The Colonel and Judy O'Grady", a certain Peter's Friends feel to "Crossing the Water". Recognising the landscape is part of the pleasure of these tales, but it may not be quite enough to sustain a reader's interest through the twists and turns of the plots. --Vicky Lebeau

Review:

"Four exquisitely crafted novellas introduce a brilliant new writer." --Harpers & Queen

"An impressive first collection . . . These stories are refreshingly, unapologetically erudite. They are also extremely funny."

Observer

"Here is a gossipy, smart, critical, intellectual, high-spirited and literate voice. It is like a secret retreat where readers can simply rejoice in intelligent, stylish prose."

Times Literary Supplement

"Witty . . . cultured and ironic . . . lavish and precise at evoking place through culture and language."

The San Diego Union-Tribune

"Like a small box of chocolate truffles, these delicious novellas. . . should be carried in a handbag or briefcase . . . for a quick hit of wit or the jolt of a . . . clever surprise ending." USA Today

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0618049339
• ISBN 13: 9780618049332
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 272