Review: Have you ever daydreamed...
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 2, 2013
...about moving to the country not just to escape the stress of city life, but more to fall back into a simpler life, a life more in tune with nature? Well, that's what Susan Hill's well-crafted short story is about. In roughly 33 pages, the author manages successfully to tell a remarkably complex emotional story--to be specific, the events leading up to the disintegration of a marriage. In addition, she creates a fascinating mystery and an eerie mood that compels the reader into and through the story.Adrian and Paula have been married for nine years. As the story begins, they're unpacking their household things after moving from the city to the country. Their new home is a cottage at the end of a lane, isolated and surrounded by nature. The move means that he has to commute a long distance back and forth to work in the city. On the other hand, Paula is a children's book illustrator and can work from home. They have no children, and neither seems to care very much about starting a family.But their marriage is shaken to its foundations by a group of semiwild children in the neighborhood, perhaps Gypsies, who for some unknown reason, are so hungry that they start stealing food from the young couple.I really liked the story. It was my first Kindle Single. Spending 99 cents for a short story seemed reasonable, but more important, I needed something quick and enjoyable to read and this definitely fit the bill. I was impressed with the author's storytelling style. She writes restrained, terse, focused prose that is unusually easy to read. She often uses two-, three-, and four-word sentences. Every sentence in the story has purpose and moves it forward. The mood was unsettling, the ending joyful. I recommend it.