Young woman in a garden : stories

Young woman in a garden Stories

Delia Sherman

Book - 2014

"Praise for Delia Sherman's previous books:"Multilayered, compassionate, and thought-provoking."--Kirkus Reviews, starred review"Fantastic in every sense of the word, Sherman's second novel (Through a Brazen Mirror) is a skillfully crafted fairy tale that owes as much to E.T.A. Hoffman as to Charles Perrault. The Porcelain Dove is no dainty vertu but a seductive, sinister bird with razored feathers."--Publishers Week-lyIn her vivid and sly, gentle and wise, long-anticipated first collection, Delia Sherman takes seemingly insignificant moments in the lives of artists or sailors--the light out a window, the two strokes it takes to turn a small boat--and finds the ghosts haunting them, the magic surrounding t...hem. Here are the lives that make up larger histories, here are tricksters and gardeners, faeries and musicians, all glittering and sparkling, finding beauty and hope and always unexpected, a touch of wild magic.Delia Sherman was born in Japan and raised in New York City. Her work has appeared most recently in the anthologies Naked City, Steampunk!, and Queen Victoria's Book of Spells. She is the author of six novels including The Porcelain Dove (a New York Times Notable Book), The Freedom Maze, and Changeling, and has received the Mythopoeic and Norton awards. She lives in New York City. "--

Saved in:
Place a Hold Save to List Email this

1st Floor Show me where

SCIENCE FICTION/Sherman Delia
1 / 1 copies available
Location Call Number   Status
1st Floor SCIENCE FICTION/Sherman Delia Checked In
Subjects
Short stories.
Published
Easthampton, MA : Small Beer Press [2014]
Language
English
Main Author
Delia Sherman (-)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
312 pages ; 22 cm
ISBN
9781618730916
  • Young woman in a garden
  • The ghost of Cwmlech Manor
  • The red piano
  • The fiddler of Bayou Teche
  • La Fée Verte
  • Walpurgis afternoon"
  • Land's end
  • The Parwat Ruby
  • The fairy cony-catcher"
  • Sacred harp
  • The printer's daughter
  • Nanny Peters and the feathery bride
  • Miss Carstairs and the merman
  • The maid on the shore.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

Lightly flecked with fantasy and anchored in vividly detailed settings, the 14 stories in Sherman's first collection are distinguished by their depictions of determined women who challenge gender roles in order to make their way in the world. In "The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor," a servant girl parlays her acquaintance with an ancestral ghost into a professional relationship with the descendant whose house it haunts. The title story toggles between present and past as an art history student researching the life of an Impressionist painter unravels the hitherto unknown role his model played in the creation of his art. Although Sherman (The Porcelain Dove) grapples with serious themes, she leavens a number of her tales with gentle humor, notably "Walpurgis Afternoon," in which a pair of lesbian witches comically discompose an ordinary suburban neighborhood when their Victorian estate springs up in a vacant lot overnight. Readers who enjoy sophisticated modern fantasy fiction, both light and dark, will greatly admire Sherman's skill with a variety of narrative forms and the gentle touch of her magic wand. (Nov.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Review by Library Journal Review

Starred Review. In this first collection from Sherman (The Porcelain Dove; The Freedom Maze), what seems ordinary consistently veers into the extraordinary and often downright surprising. From a scientist studying a merman in her pond to two neighbors connected by matching ominous red pianos, these 14 stories are all full of surprising fantasy details (fairies, ghosts, werewolves, witches, magic), and distinctive voices. Ranging in length and style, these tales are captivating and odd, with characters and settings fully and memorably fleshed out. VERDICT Sherman has won several awards for her fiction, and her literary talent is reflected in the depth and variety of stories presented here. For fans of the author's previous works as well as those seeking quirky, fantastical short stories. Katie Lawrence, Chicago (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Similar Items