Outside Paradise — Sian James

There is an unexpected, elusive emotional truth which she has understood, and she has the talent and kindness to lay it bare"-The Sunday Times (U.K.). This collection of eleven stories by the outstanding Welsh writer is a testament to women of all ages. Sometimes bright and uplifting, sometimes dark and moving, Sian James's work celebrates life. Her characters are not impossibly virtuous or improbably depraved. They are real women dealing with whatever life throws at them, whether stranded on a mountaintop or caught shoplifting. Every story is intriguing, intense, and touching. These are primarily female voices, stories told by mothers, daughters, sisters, wives. Her vividly painted characters tell us about their lives: good sex and bad sex, love and hate, friendship and enmity, excitement and boredom, birth and death.