Paris Stories [Paperback]

A NEW YORK REVIEW BOOKS ORIGINAL

Mavis Gallant is a contemporary legend, a frequent contributor toThe New Yorkerfor close to fifty years who has, in the words ofThe New York Times, "radically reshaped the short story for decade after decade." Michael Ondaatje's new selection of Gallant's work gathers some of the most memorable of her stories set in Europe and Paris, where Gallant has long lived. Mysterious, funny, insightful, and heartbreaking, these are tales of expatriates and exiles, wise children and straying saints. Together they compose a secret history, at once intimate and panoramic, of modern times.

“Often, her fiction drew its energy from contradictory qualities: her stories were minutely observed but also suspenseful, matter-of-fact but also fanciful, reportorial but also imaginative. They were broad-minded, and so felt real…it feels as concrete as anything you might read in the newspaper or see with your own eyes. Gallant had a rare gift: a solid imagination.” —The New Yorker

Ms. Hellier [owner of the English language Village Voice bookstore on Paris's Left Bank] said if she were to recommend one work of fiction set in Paris, it would beParis Storiesby Mavis Gallant,a collection of short stories by the Canadian-born writer who long wrote forThe New Yorker. --The New York Times

“One of the most brilliant story writers in the language, who deserves to be read as widely as her fellow Canadian Alice Munro. No one writes about brutish people like Gallant; she transforms the meanest human specimens into subjects of high fascination and sympathy, which makes her excellent reading for overheated festival subway commutes.” --Alexandra Schwartz, The New Yorker