Stories in The Missing Woman circle around women who are either literally missing - a mother in rehab, a daughter never born - or who are missing some metaphorical piece of themselves. A father tries to convince his uncompromising,anorexic daughter to want to live, a single woman lures men to her bed only to abandon them, and a marriage is shaken by a search party for a woman who's disappeared. Burns asks questions about balance - safety with adventure - dreams with practicality - grief with joy - and challenges the reader to take a journey, make choices...

Carole Burns has been previously shortlisted for the 2012, 2013 and 2014 Bridport Prize in Short Fiction; and awarded the Mary Roberts Rinehart Award in Fiction. Will appeal to readers of Tessa Hadley (Clever Girl, Sunstroke and Other Stories), Sarah Hall (The Beautiful Indifference), Tea Obreht (The Tiger's Wife), Anthony Doerr (All the Light We Cannot See, Memory Wall), Alice McDermott (Charming Billy, Someone) and Dan Chaon (Stay Awake, Among the Missing).

About the Author
Carole Burns is an author and lecturer who lives in Cardiff. Her book of interviews with writers, Off the Page: Writers Talk About Beginnings, Endings, and Everything in Between, was published by Norton in 2008; her first collection of stories, The Missing Woman, is being published by Parthian in 2015. She is Head of Creative Writing at the University of Southampton and a co-organiser of XX Women's Writing Festival.

Reviews
"Beautiful, memorable stories, artfully nuanced, boldly honest." Joanna Scott "These stories explore the complex harmonies within real imperfect relationships, revealing moments in a life when a carefully held balance shifts and, imperceptibly, that life is changed." Philip Gross



Book Information
ISBN 9781910409664
Author Carole Burns
Format Paperback
Page Count 250
Imprint Parthian Books
Publisher Parthian Books