Monday, May 12, 2008

Sunstroke and Other Stories by Tessa Hadley


I first heard of Tessa Hadley through a podcast of The New York Times Book Review (or maybe it was the Washington Post Book World podcast - I subscribe to both). Although she has published three novels, Sunstroke and Other Stories appears to be her first collection. All of the book's ten stories are narrated by women in middle to upper-class British settings. There's certainly nothing unusual in that, but what is unusual is how Hadley explores relationships.

All of the relationships in the book are problematic for one reason or another. In the title story, one of two married women on holiday considers an affair with a visitor. In "The Surrogate," a young college student falls in love with her professor, but settles for an affair with a man who simply looks like the instructor. In "Mother's Son," a woman who hears her son's confession that he's cheating on his girlfriend finds herself confronted by the girlfriend herself.

Each story includes a "moment of truth" in which a decision of some kind has to be made. There's little time to consider the immediate consequences of those decisions, but many years (sometimes decades) to reflect on their aftermath. And in some cases second chances present themselves.

Much of Hadley's work is focused on those dizzying moments of indecision when what we want is waging a war against what we know is wrong. Hadley knows that when you're in the midst of such moments, it's almost impossible to balance desire, pain, regret, joy and sorrow. But reading these stories makes it clear that she's been there.

Ten short stories (few are over 20 pages) covering 177 pages - Well worth your time.

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