Monday 26 April 2010

Where the apple ripens (Kesson) 385

This week's posts are all going to be short story volumes, following recent acquisition of a number from ebay, and I'll also be writing about Angela Carter's VMC volume of short stories for Claire from Paperback Reader's Angela Carter month.



Where the apple ripens was a random ebay purchase, and turned out to be an utterly delightful, a little bit of a Cider with Rosie book. It's a collection of short stories written by the Scottish author Jessie Kesson, set in rural Aberdeenshire, and based around the themes of childhood and adolescence and growing up, they draw heavily on Kesson's own experiences. There is a tale about the mental hospital where Kesson was a patient, a story set in an orphanage and an account of a Christmas party for a group of deprived children.

Overall, I loved the writing style of these short stories, and I was very happy to see that two of Kesson's novels - White bird passes and Another time, another place - are on the list - I am keen to track these down very soon. It's just been published once by Virago, with an italicised green cover.

3 comments:

  1. I'm intrigued by this one Verity, I was a student in Aberdeen and would like to read some books set in the area. It sounds not entirely dissimiler to all the George Mackay Brown reading I've been doing and I'm all for more of that too. Shall be looking out for her.

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  2. Do you want to borrow it Hayley? Am happy to lend...

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  3. That sounds like something I'd like. Must see if I can find a copy of that nearby!

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