Its Beginning to Hurt

The Stories in This Remarkable Collection Are Vibrant, Gripping and Intricately Worked, but They Are More Than Simply Small Masterpieces of Narrative Art. James Lasdun's Other Great Gift is His Unfailing Psychological Instinct for the Vertiginous Moments When the Essence of a Life Discloses Itself. With Forensic Skill He Exposes His Characters' Hidden Desires and Fears, Drawing Back the Folds of Their Familiar Self-Delusions, Their Images of Themselves, Their Habits and Routines, to Reveal Them to Themselves - and Us - With Brilliant Clarity. in Sharply Evoked Settings That Range From the Wilds of Northern Greece to the Beaches of Cape Cod, These Intensely Dramatic Tales Chart the Metamorphoses of Their Characters As They Fall Prey to the Gamut of Human Passions. the Lives in Them Seethe With Love, Hate, Desire, Fear, Tender Corruption and Cruel Idealism. They Rise to Unexpected Heights of Decency, Stumble Into Comic or Tragic Folly, They Throw Themselves Open to Lust, Longing, Paranoi