Poignant, funny and perceptive, Helen Simpson's fifth collection of runs the gamut of emotions and deals with birth, death and everything in between. We shift from a diary chronicling the dangers of life as a woman in the bleak 2040s, to two students falling in love then almost talking themselves out of it in an argument about the end of the world, to a heartfelt anti-cancer spell cast in the hope of protecting a friend.

Moving effortlessly between tragedy and comedy and packed with a host of distinctive voices, this is an outstanding collection from a master of the genre.

'A masterful contemporary exponent of the genre. Simpson now deserves to be compared with Flannery O'Connor and Alice Munro' - Observer

About the Author
Helen Simpson's sixth short-story collection, Cockfosters, follows Four Bare Legs in a Bed (1990), Dear George (1995), Hey Yeah Right Get a Life (2000), Constitutional (2005) and In-Flight Entertainment (2010). A Bunch of Fives: Selected Stories (2012) includes five stories from each of her first five collections. She has received the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, the Hawthornden Prize and the E.M.Forster Award. She lives in London.

Reviews
When it comes to contemporary maestros of the short-story form, Helen Simpson is up there with Alice Munro... If they had any sense the 10:10 carbon-reduction campaign would distribute this book for free, such is its power -- Lucy Atkins * The Sunday Times *
The best short story writer now working in English * Financial Times *
In-Flight Entertainment is quite delectable, confirming her as the queen of the comic short story * Sunday Telegraph *
Simpson's gifts are a lyrical vocabulary, an authoritative form, a special funny-sad quality and a subtlety of understanding... Add in political argument, and she is a key voice for our time -- Margaret Reynolds * The Times *
It's all packed with Simpson's deadpan wit - she is one of the most sharply funny writers in England today * Times Literary Supplement *
Helen Simpson can weave more thought and feeling into a thousand words than some achieve in as many pages * Intelligent Life *
The collection as a whole is carefully organised, with the lightest piece butting against the most death-haunted one and a tidy distribution of public and private themes -- Christopher Taylor * Guardian *



Book Information
ISBN 9780099546122
Author Helen Simpson
Format Paperback
Page Count 144
Imprint Vintage
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 106g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 9mm