The Little Black Book of Stories

A new collection of Byatt stories is always a winner and never fails to delight. This one takes an unexpected turn, bringing shivers as well as magical thrills. The Little Black Book holds its secrets, and they will linger in your mind forever. Leaves rustle underfoot in a dark wood: two middle-aged women walk into a forest, as they did when they were girls, confronting their childhood fears and memories and the strange thing they saw -- or thought they saw -- so long ago. A distinguished male obstetrician and a young woman artist meet in a hospital. But both of them have very different ideas about body parts, birth and death. An innocent member of an evening class turns out to have her own decided views on how to use “raw material.” The five stories in this marvelous collection are by turns funny, spooky, sparkling, sad, and utterly unforgettable.