'When the story is finished, Muriel and Polly sit in silence. The coloured lights on the fuchsia bush twinkle against the black sea and the black mountain and the black sky. They sit in silence. They let the story settle.'

For almost forty years, Eilis Ni Dhuibhne has captivated readers and critics alike with the dazzle and daring of her stories. Hailed as an original voice from her first collection, she has gone on to create a body of work that has established her as one of Ireland's finest and most compelling storytellers.

The fourteen stories gathered here demonstrate the breadth of Ni Dhuibhne's achievement across her long writing career, particularly in terms of her depiction of the richly complex territory of women's lives. They are testament to her great and enduring talent for weaving stories that draw us in and stay with us in the silence, long after the story has ended.

'A masterful storyteller, tonally adept at pivoting from searing and political, to comic and moving in a matter of pages.'

SINEAD GLEESON

'Ni Dhuibhne's stories stand out for their superb sense of character and time and place.'

COLM TOIBIN

'A fully contemporary writer working old magic; Ni Dhuibhne calls on ancient tradition to renew the way we see the world.'

ANNE ENRIGHT

Stories: The Postmen's Strike - Blood and Water - The Flowering - The Wife of Bath - Gweedore Girl - Estonia - The Pale Gold of Alaska - The Banana Boat - A Literary Lunch - The Moon Shines Clear, The Horseman's Here - Bikes I have Lost - The Coast of Wales - New Zealand Flax - Little Red.