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The Five Thousand and One Nights (European Short Stories, No 4)
The Five Thousand and One Nights - European Short Stories, No 4 Author:Penelope Lively British novelist Lively relishes the concentrated drama of the short story form in this fine collection of crisp, superbly crafted tales about people on unfamiliar terrain, be it geographic or psychological. Place is always of great importance to Lively, and several stories depict travelers either deriving strength from their experiences or cour... more »ting disaster. But most of these arch tales are set in cozy old England, where it seems almost anything can happen and does: a deliveryman turns out to be a thief; a potentially violent holdup man (boy, really) turns docile on a full stomach; perplexing things happen at weddings; and a snapped sewing machine needle drives an overwhelmed working mother into despair. In each story, Lively slyly exploits and explodes expectations by transforming seemingly foolish courses of action into clever strategies. In fact, Lively is so enamored of the art and conventions of storytelling that she makes them the focus of the title story, a hilarious satire on the queen of all storytellers, Scheherazade. Bright, canny, and hugely entertaining« less