Tenterhooks

The best book yet from this witty writer In these ten stories, Suzannah Dunn shows her considerable talent for writing short fiction Wonderfully funny, clever observations of womens' lives: Auntie Fay comes to Spain for the summer, survives on insulin injections, tans to the hue of a blood blister and routinely saves the skins of Renee and her unfortunate family; the sixth form do Pembrokeshire, on a field trip of stale cigarettes, smuggled scotch, and finally, mutiny; a young woman remembers her first real love -- for the ghost of her aunt's boyfriend Dunn is poised to win a major prize -Venus Flaring was called in by the Booker judges Sadie is in a tailspin: will anyone break her fall? Having had more than her share of misfortune, Sadie Summerfield seems to have finally ended up lucky. She has the perfect homelife. For the first time in a very long time, she has a future. So when another man, a cautious, subdued man, so very different from her own warm-hearted husband, drifts into Sadie's life, she must ask herself the question: Is she ready to risk everything for the sake of love? And besides, shouldn't affairs begin with a shiver of danger, with the thrill of the chase, rather than this? In Commencing Our Descent Suzannah Dunn proves she has unrivalled access to the most hidden, most intimate workings of our lives and longings, our marriages and affairs, our secrets and lies. Wry, sharp and witty, this is her most astute and affecting novel yet. Suzannah here combines the sharpness and tautness of her short stories with the warmth and detail of her novels, and achieves perfect balance.