A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman

A Day in the Life of a Smiling Woman

The Collected Stories

Summary

Margaret Drabble is one of the major literary figures of her generation. In this collection of her complete short fiction from across four decades, she examines the intense private worlds and passions of everyday people.

From one man's honeymooning epiphany in 'Hassan's Tower' to the journeying fantasies of 'A Voyage to Cythera', and from the sharp joy of 'The Merry Widow' to the bloody reality of the collection's title story, these are moving, witty and provocative tales, exploring cruel and loving relationships, social change and personal obsessions, and confirming her status as a leading practitioner of the art of the short story.

Reviews

  • Brims with sharply observed life and the author's seemingly infinite sympathy for "ordinary women"
    Joyce Carol Oates

About the author

Margaret Drabble

Margaret Drabble was born in Sheffield in 1939 and educated at Cambridge. She was awarded a CBE in 1980. Her many novels include The Radiant Way (1987), A Natural Curiosity (1989) and The Gates of Ivory(1991), The Peppered Moth (2000) and The Seven Sisters (2002) all of which are published by Penguin. Margaret Drabble is married to the biographer Michael Holroyd and lives in London W10.
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