Collected Stories

Published by Vintage

ISBN-13: 978-0099561583

Since the publication of Secrets and Other Stories in 1977, Bernard MacLaverty has been celebrated as one of the finest living short-story writers. Writing in the New York Times, William Boyd summoned the shades of Yeats, Joyce, and Flann O’Brien, insisting that “MacLaverty sits perfectly comfortably” in their company. The Guardian simply said “MacLaverty is a master.” Melding his native Irish sensibilities to those of his adopted west-coast Scotland, these tales attend to life’s big events: love and loss, separation and violence, death and betrayal. But the stories teem with smaller significant moments, too-private epiphanies, chilling exchanges, intimate encounters. A writer of great compassion, insight, and humanity, MacLaverty surprises us time and again with the sensitivity of his ear and the accuracy of his eye. Each of these extraordinary stories – with their wry, self-deprecating humor, elegance, and subtle wisdom – gets to the very heart of life.

Reviews:

‘Bitter-sweetness is the mood of many of these stories. MacLaverty is a generous and sympathetic writer, one who is capable of celebrating joy and happiness, while remaining aware that life often brings more disappointments than rewards. Some of the stories would be bleak in a bald re-telling, but while they may be sad, they are never depressing. His characters are more often stoical than self-pitying. He has a tenderness for women, especially old ones, who keep going and do what they think is their duty, no matter their circumstances. He can depict goodness without lapsing into sentimentality.’

Allan Massie in The Scotsman 23.11.13

“Not since J.D. Salinger’s For Esme With Love and Squalor have I enjoyed so much a collection of stories. I mean pleasure – real pleasure.” (Paul Durcan The Cork Examiner)

“MacLaverty is one of the best practitioners of the genre we have.” (New Statesman)

“His prose is invisible, free of tricks, as though it was your own thoughts.” (Observer)

“Beautifully constructed, minutely observed, filled with the poetry of longing, told with an economy and simplicity which makes their small tragedies even more powerful and moving … MacLaverty has created an imagined Ulster which can stand side by side with Joyce’s Dublin. Long may he continue.” (Guardian)

“MacLaverty has a knack for endowing the workaday with a little poetry.” (Independent)

Bernard MacLaverty

Bernard MacLaverty was born in Belfast (14.9.42) and lived there until 1975 when he moved to Scotland with his wife, Madeline, and four children. He has been a Medical Laboratory Technician, a mature student, a teacher of English and occasionally a Writer-in-Residence (Universities of Aberdeen, Augsburg, Liverpool John Moore’ and Iowa State). After living for a time in Edinburgh and the Isle of Islay he now lives in Glasgow. He is a member of Aosdana in Ireland.

He has published four novels and five collections of short stories most of which are gathered into Collected Stories (2013). He has written versions of his fiction for other media – radio plays, television plays, screenplays, libretti.