Her entry begins:I am reading the advance sampler of a book that will be published in October: The Penguin Book of the British Short Story. If the ten stories in the sampler are anything to go by, it will be a fabulous read. I am excited about this book not just because it aims to provide one example of work from each of the 150 greatest British short story writers – starting with Daniel Defoe and coming right up to date and so gives a taster of the genius that lies beyond, but also because the very fact that Penguin commissioned such a work seems evidence to me of the resurgence of the short story in the UK. I love short stories, I think they offer a very particular literary experience. As Neil Gaiman said: “Short stories are tiny windows into...[read on]About Early One Morning, from the publisher:
Two women's decision to save a child during WWII will have powerful reverberations over the years.Learn more about Early One Morning at the publisher's website.
Chiara Ravello is about to flee occupied Rome when she locks eyes with a woman being herded on to a truck with her family.
Claiming the woman's son, Daniele, as her own nephew, Chiara demands his return; only as the trucks depart does she realize what she has done. She is twenty-seven, with a sister who needs her constant care, a hazardous journey ahead, and now a child in her charge.
Several decades later, Chiara lives alone in Rome, a self-contained woman working as a translator. Always in the background is the shadow of Daniele, whose absence and the havoc he wrought on Chiara's world haunt her. Then she receives a phone call from a teenager claiming to be his daughter, and Chiara knows it is time to face up to the past.
My Book, The Movie: Early One Morning.
Writers Read: Virginia Baily.
--Marshal Zeringue
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