Moderate to Poor, Occasionally Good by Eley Williams

A Granta Best Young British Novelist

The stunning new collection of stories from the award-winning author of The Liar’s Dictionary, Eley Williams returns with a thrilling collection of short stories exploring the nature of relationships both intimate and transient – from the easy gamesmanship of contagious yawns to the horror of a smile fixed for just a second too long.

A courtroom sketch artist delights in committing portraits of their lover to paper but their need to capture likenesses forever is revealed to have darker, more complex intentions.

A child’s schoolyard crush on a saint marks a confrontation with the reality of a teenage body in flux.

Elsewhere, an editor of canned laughter loses their confidence and seeks divine intervention, and an essayist annotates their thoughts on Keats by way of internet-gleaned sex tips.

Moderate to Poor, Occasionally Good hums with fossicking language and ingenious experiments in form and considers notions of playfulness, authenticity and care as it holds relationships to account: their sweet misunderstandings, soured reflections, queer wish fulfilments and shared, held breaths.

REVIEWS

'A thrilling love for the stuff of language … Magical' JON McGREGOR

'A visionary writer' JAN CARSON

Erudite and audacious' KIERAN GODDARD

‘I don’t know anyone else who can write like this' BEN PESTER

'Vital, vivid and oddly companionable stories' DAVID HAYDEN

‘A joy for the head and the heart' RUBY COWLING

Hardback

Language: English
Extent: 208
Publish Date: 18 Jul 2024
ISBN: 9780008618926
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Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers
Imprint: Fourth Estate Ltd