W&N Essentials

''It''s the truth,'' the women said from their mattress ''Everything is nice''.

''Readers who''ve not yet read Jane Bowles are almost to be envied, like people who''ve still to read Austen or Mansfield or Woolf''
Ali Smith

''Jane Bowles''s literary output, small but perfect, puts her on a stylistic planet all her own''
New Yorker

''A dizzyingly original stylist''
New York Times

Alva, a widow, states a preference for plain ordinary pleasures - only to get drunk and flirtatious, and pass out in a strange bed when she is asked out for the evening.

Sadie, a spinster, goes to a holiday resort complete with pine groves, marshmallows and respectable clientele - to bring her nervous sister home, but instead comes to an eerie end herself.

Mary, a little girl, spends her days in a clay pit leading an imaginary army of hard-muscled men. But when a strange boy invades her headquarters, Mary abandons her soldiers to follow him home.

Disturbing, unforgettable and totally unique, Jane Bowles'' short stories explore the hidden lives of women that only appear ordinary.

With an Introduction by Chris Power