Life in all its Quirkiness by Christine Hand is a lovely collection of short stories and essay pieces set in various locations around the world. Each is lovingly crafted to leave the reader with a few more questions than answers at the end of each one.
As with most short story collections, this can be read cover to cover or can be dipped into like a tasty bag of assorted boiled sweets (candies, for those of you across the pond).
Most of these don’t follow the traditional format of what I’d recognise as a short story. You know, one with a beginning, a middle and a bit of a twist in the tail. Some do, but most are more like a snapshot in the middle of a longer tale.
Don’t get me wrong, this format works nicely and gives the reader pause for thought about what possibly went before and where the characters in each one will ultimately end up.
With nineteen finely constructed stories there will be something for everyone among them. Not all of them will strike a chord with everybody but you’re sure to find more than a few that hit the mark.
Packed with interesting characters from France, Australia, Fiji and other exotic locations, the stories are full of rich location details that give a glimpse into places some of us will never visit.
Stories range from fairly down to earth romance, via importing holy water from France, to vegetation that takes its own stance on reducing global warming.
A staged battle for Ithaca Creek between school children gives one girl the boost to her self-esteem that she needs to make friends.
Can a clone be so perfect it fools its creator? Should a farmer flee the north in the midst of the Vietnam war? Can a Fijian villager fall in love with an Australian aid worker? All of these questions and many more are answered between the covers of this intriguing collection.