Mothers
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- €8.49
Publisher Description
SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDGE HILL SHORT STORY PRIZE 2019
LONGLISTED FOR THE RATHBONES FOLIO PRIZE 2019
LONGLISTED FOR THE EDGE HILL SHORT STORY PRIZE 2019
'To read Mothers is to take a journey through a landscape familiar enough to console, yet strange enough to unsettle. The thrills and dangers of such a journey lie with the unexpectedness of life's undercurrents and our uncertain, unknowable selves. Chris Power's quiet yet compelling touch is reminiscent of Alice Munro and Peter Stamm.'
- Yiyun Li, author of A Thousand Years of Good Prayers and The Vagrants
Chris Power's stories are peopled by men and women who find themselves at crossroads or dead ends - at ancient Swedish burial sites, river crossings on Exmoor, and raucous Mexican weddings. A stand-up with writer's block embarks upon his last gig as a Rodney Dangerfield impersonator. Reflecting on a childhood holiday, a father is faced with the limit to which he can keep his daughters safe. These characters search without knowing what they seek.
At the heart of this work is Eva, whom we meet in childhood, locked in an enigmatic relationship with her mother; as a woman stumbling from youth into middle age; and in later life as the mother to a daughter of her own. Each story lays bare the emotional and psychic damage of life, love and abandonment.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Full of travelers and troubled relationships, Power's debut contains enough greatness to recover from sometimes repetitious narratives. "Mother 1: Summer 1976," the sparkling first story, concerns a 10-year-old Swedish girl, Eva, as she navigates her feelings toward Nisse, a neighbor boy, after she accuses him of defacing their apartment complex. Eva appears in two more stories. In "Mother 2: Innsbruck," she is a young adult, traveling Europe and contemplating suicide, while in "Mother 3: Eva," she is married with a daughter yet impaired by depression and wanderlust. "Mother 2: Innsbruck" suffers from a sameness that weakens the collection, as a series of tales revolve around characters hiking rural landscapes. Of these, "The Crossing," with its newly minted couple testing their relationship on a multiday walk, works best. Other highlights include "Johnny Kingdom," which follows a Rodney Dangerfield esque tribute comic on his farewell performances in Florida, and "Above the Wedding," about an affair between a man and his friend's future husband. There's plenty to admire in Power's writing, and the author mines his characters for unexpected traits and decisions, making for an auspicious debut.
