Readers who have discovered the delights of the British master storyteller H.E. Bates in A Month by the Lake and A Party for the Girls (published by New Directions in 1987 and 1988) will welcome this third collection, Elephant's Nest in a Rhubarb Tree. Gathered here are twenty stories written between 1938 and 1964 which, like those of Chekhov, to whom Bates has often been compared, are gems of human observation. There is the sheer hilarity of "An Italian Haircut," the wincing cruelty of "The Captain," the childhood enchantment of "Love in a Wych Elm," the estrangments of divorce in "Some Other Spring"--to mention just a few of the colors on H.E. Bates' palette. And any reader who has met the dotty Aunt Leonora (in "The Chords of Youth" and "A Month by the Lake") will relish meeting her again in the "The Trespasser," the concluding story of this volume.
Reviews
"His tales have...a real vitality, a kind of sunlit vivacity of phrase and incident, which gives brightness to stories even of relatively sombre themes...He can mingle comedy and emotion with a fine balance. He is always sensitive, often tender, and has a fine detachment in narrative and power of complete evocation in description." -- London Times



Book Information
ISBN 9780811210881
Author H. E. Bates
Format Paperback
Page Count 220
Imprint New Directions Publishing Corporation
Publisher New Directions Publishing Corporation
Weight(grams) 245g
Dimensions(mm) 206mm * 137mm * 15mm