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Description

From the hairdessing salon where an old man measures out his life in haircuts, to the concert hall where a music lover carries out an obsessive campaign against those who cough in concerts; from the woman reading elaborate recipes to her sick husband as a substitute for sex, to the woman 'incarcerated' in an old people's home beginning a correspondence with an author that enriches both their lives - all Barnes' characters, in their different ways, square up to death and rage against the dying light.

Reviews

"All [the stories] are a joy to read as Barnes glides between forms... Each story is distinct and indelible, a tribute to the form. Above all they make you think about growing old and what, if anything, can be done about it." Glasgow Herald "Masterly...his best stories have a strong air of Maupassant about them...extraordinarily effective...a compelling series of vignettes of old age, executed with great skill" Daily Telegraph "Sheer intelligence and acute observation carry the whole production...helps sustain a reader's faith in literature" New York Times Book Review "His stories have a photographic clarity, a psychological realism that embraces extremes of feeling...with a deliciously wry streak" Observer "Barnes's steely wit finds best expression when inhabiting the anguished and angry... Their brilliance rather plays upon our petty furies and failures, embellishing them with self-deprecatory wryness...entrancing and curiously cheering" New Statesman