When you’ve made your name as a writer of luscious, languid love stories set in exotic climates, dipping into the short-story genre seems like a bit of a risk.
Joanne Harris, author of the mega-selling novel Chocolat as well as a host of other book-club favourites, is daring to take on the shorter form with her new collection, A Cat, a Hat and a Piece of String.
This is not the British writer’s first foray into short stories; in fact, several of the 16 works represented here have been published before, and some of the characters and settings are making repeat appearances in her work.
There’s no obvious link between the 16 stories that make up this collection; the storylines are varied and take place in a number of locations around the world, with characters of different ages, genders and nationalities.
The collection’s first story, River Song, is set in the Congo and follows a group of children who brave rapids to earn money form tourists; Would You Like to Reconnect? portrays a mother desperately clinging on to the virtual world after the death of her only child; while Cookie shows the lengths of desperation one woman goes to to become a parent.
Despite their disparate subject matter, each story has a sense of mischievousness, empathy and wry wit that readers of Joanne’s previous books will be familiar with.
The beauty of short-story collections is that you can dip in and dip out of them without fear of losing the plot, so to speak, while still getting a good sense of a writer’s imagination.
A Cat, a Hat and a Piece of String is perfect for an idle Sunday read.
By Claire Rorke
Joanne Harris (Random House, $34.99)
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