Presents a collection of eight short stories, that touch on the subject of race and race relations.
"
The eight short stories in this small book form an impeccable whole....their coolly assuring tone lends them a compelling openness - and leaves you hoping that Packer's first novel will appear soon.
Coolly written and neatly structured....
Packer is likely to be a star so get in at the start
Packer builds stories that have the richness of novellas, and her ducking of easy epiphanies leaves plenty of satisfyingly untidy ends
Moments of deep poignancy combine with flickers of humour to make her stories both touching and astute. It all promises much for the pending first novel.
ZZ Packer is a much-heralded new talent on the literary scene. This collection of short stories is permeated by her languid, natural style.....An author who deserves all her mounting claim.
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere is sugared with just enough sweet and clever humour to turn these heavy, short stories a heart-lifting read.
This is a consistently remarkable book, in both its imagination and the wonderful quality of the writing. It is some of the best new fiction to emerge in recent years - moving, insightful, funny and with real integrity. Packer will be one of the literary shining stars of the future, and rightly so.
" (Natalie Galustian)
"Funny, tender, gripping, wise and the work of a writer seemingly at the top of her game,
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere is hopefully only the start of a marvellous writing career for ZZ Packer and a delightful reading odyssey for her readers of whom, if there is any justice, there will be many." (Ranti Williams)
"She writes a short story with more complexity and kindness that most people can muster in their creaking 500 page novels. It is the kind of brilliance for narrative that should make her peers envious and her readers very, very grateful." (
Zadie Smith)
"If Toni Morrison has given black America back its history, ZZ Packer will shed light on its contemporary life. Serious and contentious, she never loses hold of the craft and delight of storytelling.
Drinking Coffee Elsewhere has done its work: it has established a voice that will want to be heard again." (Diana Evans
The Independent)