'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 - seven short stories by the author of Two Serious Ladies

'The most important writer of prose fiction in modern American letters' Tennessee Williams
'A modern legend' Truman Capote
'Bowles is a master of the unforgettable phrase that no one else could have written' William S. Burroughs
'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 hen a strange boy invades her headquarters, Mary abandons her soldiers to follow him home.

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

With an introduction by Chris Power