Fast Fiction
5 total works
A companion piece to the captivating memoir Giving Up the Ghost by the Man Booker-winning author of Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies and The Mirror & the Light, this collection of loosely autobiographical stories locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood.
This sharp, funny collection of stories drawn from life begins in the 1950s in an insular northern village 'scoured by bitter winds and rough gossip tongues.' For the child narrator, the only way to survive is to get up, get on, get out.
In 'King Billy is a Gentleman', the child must come to terms with the loss of a father and the puzzle of a fading Irish heritage. 'Curved Is the Line of Beauty' is a story of friendship, faith and a near-disaster in a scrap-yard. The title story sees our narrator ironing out her northern vowels with the help of an ex-actress with one lung and a Manchester accent. In 'Third Floor Rising', she watches, dazzled, as her mother carves out a stylish new identity.
With a deceptively light touch, Mantel locates the transforming moments of a haunted childhood.
An unnerving and hauntingly written tale about two young girls from markedly different backgrounds who share a terrifying secret one long, hot summer about the inhabitants of the local big house.
An unnerving and hauntingly written tale about two young girls from markedly different backgrounds who share a terrifying secret one long, hot summer about the inhabitants of the local big house.
A little girl visits a stranger's family, and makes a new friend.
Fast Fiction: A selection of masterful short stories from 4th Estate short story collections, and the best talent from The Sunday Times authors, available to purchase as single story ebooks.
A teenage girl sees a new side to her mother when she starts to work with her in a department store.
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Fast Fiction: A selection of masterful short stories from 4th Estate short story collections, and the best talent from The Sunday Times authors, available to purchase as single story ebooks.
First published in Hilary Mantel’s collection of short stories Learning to Talk, in King Billy is a Gentleman a child must come to terms with the loss of a father and the puzzle of a fading Irish heritage.
First published in Hilary Mantel’s collection of short stories Learning to Talk, in King Billy is a Gentleman a child must come to terms with the loss of a father and the puzzle of a fading Irish heritage.