The Penguin Book of the Contemporary British Short Story by Philip Hensher

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


My daughter purchased this book for me as a Christmas present while she was in London with her husband. One of the things she likes about London is the bookstores. And they contain many books that would be difficult to find in bookstores – such as they are – in the States.

This volume contains 30 stories that were previously published between the years 1997 and 2017 by authors ranging from Ali Smith to Zadie Smith, as the cover states. Among readers of literary fiction will at least be familiar with Zadie Smith. So, the book serves something like the purpose of Best American Short Story and the O'Henry Prize Story series.

One of the things I noticed about the stories is that there seems to be a darkness to them that I don't find with most American writers. Things, it seems, often in badly for the stoic Brits. (Foreshadowing Brexit?)

Another thing I noticed is that the sea plays a part in at least two of the stories. Although the United States has thousands of miles of shoreline, rivers seem to play a bigger part in American stories, while the sea rarely does, at least in contemporary fiction. In one of the stories, a pier collapses, and more than 60 people lose their lives. In another a father and son are traveling on an extremely large ferry, which rams a small sailing boat in an extremely dense fog.

Overall, the book is a nice addition to my collection of short story volumes and illustrates that the short story form is alive and well in Britain as it is in the U.S. even though readership is notably down in both countries.



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