The Beautiful Indifference: Stories (P.S.)
Something unexpected from Sarah Hall (The Electric Michelangelo, 2005; How to Paint a Dead Man, 2009): a collection of short, realistic (mostly), contemporary stories. Hall’s women are cheated on, broken up with, sick, bored, lonely; and her writing pulls the reader into subtly rendered but deeply felt worlds. From a young outcast taken in by a wild, local family to a housewife who secretly joins a sex club, the stories show off a mastery of a wide variety of tones and voices. All but two of the seven stories take place in England, and Hall stretches her chops as she goes further afield. An encounter with a stray dog on an African beach becomes a possibly-paranormal revenge story; a swim in a Finnish lake becomes an edgy nightmare. The strongest story in the collection, “The Nightlong River,” evokes a historical, rustic north of England and the loneliest act of friendship you’ll ever read. American readers who cut their teeth on Joyce Carol Oates’ Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been? (1993) will want to give this collection a try. --Susan Maguire