Twelve Post-War Tales
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4.5 • 2 Ratings
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
The remarkable new work of fiction from the Booker Prize-winning author of Last Orders, Wasteland, Here We Are and Mothering Sunday
In the aftermath of the Second World War Private Joseph Caan, a young Jewish soldier stationed in Germany, seeks the truth about lost family members; in the 1960s a father focuses on his daughter’s wedding even as the Cuban Missile Crisis brings the world to the brink of disaster; in 2001, while planes fly into the Twin Towers, a maid working for US Embassy staff in London wonders if her birth on the day of the Kennedy assassination shaped her life; and at the height of a pandemic lockdown, Dr. Cole, a retired specialist in respiratory disease, returns to work and recalls a formative childhood encounter with illness and much more. These are just a few of the challenged characters we meet in Graham Swift’s Twelve Post-war Tales.
Tender, humane, funny and moving, Swift’s latest work of fiction displays his quietly commanding ability to set the personal and the ordinary against the harsh sweep of history. It is an outstanding achievement, confirming his status as one of the great, most subtle voices of our age.
Praise for Swift's most recent novel, Here We Are
'A magical piece of writing: the work of a novelist on scintillating form.' The Guardian
‘Here We Are smuggles within the pages of a seemingly commonplace tale depths of emotion and narrative complexity that take the breath away.’ The Observer
‘The book’s power comes precisely from the fact that it performs its magic in front of your eyes, leaving nowhere to hide ... you wonder how he does it.’ Financial Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
The stories in this perceptive collection from Swift (Last Orders) follow ordinary people impacted by historic tragedies. In "The Next Best Thing," a German official, asked by a British soldier in 1959 to help locate his Jewish relatives who went missing during WWII, is reminded of his experience as a POW in England. The 72-year-old doctor at the center of "Blushes" comes out of retirement to treat Covid-19 patients and recalls his 10th birthday party when he was diagnosed with scarlet fever. In "Zoo," a Filipino maid at the U.S. embassy in London develops an obsessive relationship with a young charge and takes him to the zoo on 9/11. "Fireworks" explores the stubbornness and unspoken trauma of a WWII bombardier who insists his daughter's wedding proceed despite the ongoing Cuban Missile Crisis, while "Passport" follows an octogenarian woman who, while renewing her passport, remembers being orphaned in London during the war. Swift amply shades in the various ways his characters are affected by the long shadow of war or disaster. These finely tuned tales lend new meaning to the phrase "conflict resolution."
