Synopses & Reviews
The appearance of Zoë Wicombs first set of short stories,
You Cant Get Lost in Cape Town, precipitated the founding of a fan club that has come to include Toni Morrison, J.M. Coetzee, Bharati Mukherjee, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and writers at
The New York Times,
The London Times,
The Wall Street Journal,
The New Yorker, and
The Christian Science Monitor. Now, after two novels, Wicomb returns to the genre that first brought her international acclaim.
Set mostly in Cape Town and Glasgow, Wicombs new collection of short stories straddles dual worlds. An array of characters drawn with extraordinary acuity inhabits a complexly interconnected, twenty-first-century universe. The fourteen stories in this collection explore a range of human relationships: marriage, friendship, family ties, and relations with those who serve us. Wicombs fluid, shifting technique questions conventional certainties and makes for exhilarating reading, full of ironic twists, ambiguities, and moments of startling insight.
Long awaited, The One That Got Away showcases this established, award-winning author at the height of her powers.
About the Author
Zoë Wicomb was born in South Africa and now lives in Glasgow. She is currently a professor in the department of English studies at Strathclyde University, Glasgow, and Visiting Professor Extraordinaire at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. In addition to two collections of short stories, she has published two novels, Davids Story and Playing in the Light (The New Press). She is the winner of a 2013 Windham Campbell Prize.
Table of Contents
Boy in a jute-sack hood: Page 9
Disgrace: Page 23
The one that got away: Page 37
Mrs Pringles bed: Page 51
Theres the bird that never flew: Page 65
Neighbours Page: Page 81
Friends and goffels: Page 101
Trompe loeil: Page 117
Nothing like the wind: Page 135
N2: Page 147
In the Botanic Gardens: Page 159
Another story: Page 173
Acknowledgements: Page 192