The Colonel's Daughter and Other Stories

by Rose Tremain

Book Overview

A collection of short stories from the author of RESTORATION and SACRED COUNTRY. As Colonel Browne prepares for his afternoon dip at the Hotel Alpenrose, his daughter back in England prepares to rob... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0805003622
• ISBN13: 9780805003628
• Release Date: January 1987
• Publisher: Henry Holt & Company
• Length: 174 Pages
• Weight: 0.53 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A brilliant collection.

In the brilliant, action-packed, title story of this collection, Rose Tremaine single-handedly renews our faith in the potential of the short story form. By writing a story in which - heaven forfend - something actually happens, she reclaims the form from those crafty vampires who try to hold it hostage. You know the type - those pallid, anemic 'writers', who hide behind the claim that the short story is all about the 'craft' of writing, even as they exsanguinate the form, bleeding it dry as they distract us with their pretty adjectives and limp, solipsistic navel-gazing. I don't want to exaggerate. This collection of stories is far from perfect. But the vigor and imagination that Tremaine brings to her writing are a welcome development, and deserve to be acknowledged. This short collection hardly represents the final conquest of the forces of mediocrity that plague modern writing. But, in writing these vibrant stories, Tremaine reminds us readers that we have a right to expect more from a short story than the anemic navel-gazing of a Deborah Eisenberg or Rick Moody character. In doing so, she puts a stake through the collective heart of the crafty vampires, and puts a major dent in their efforts to leech the life out of the short story form. A minor victory, perhaps, but a significant one, for which Rose Tremaine deserves our acknowledgement and our thanks