cover image Woman's Hour Book of Short Stories

Woman's Hour Book of Short Stories

. BBC Books, $7.99 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-563-36389-7

Our struggle with our own mortality is poignantly and humorously expressed in the 19 accomplished tales in this second anthology of works by women writers broadcast on the British radio program ``Woman's Hour.'' In Cora Sandel's (1880-1974) powerful story, apartment dwellers in Paris during World War I take refuge from the bombing of the city in a cellar and watch helplessly as a baby wastes away in their midst, until one woman comes up with a way to get milk for him. Shena MacKay tells a lyrical story of an alcoholic father who is visited on Christmas by his daughters and contemplates his inextricable ties to them ``as they walked to the car concealing their wounds under their coats . . . carrying his own weak and dissolute genes in their young and beautiful bodies.'' In Clare Boylan's clever work, a woman pretends she has a daughter so she can receive money from her ex-husband. When her husband visits she rents a model to pose as the girl, with hilarious results. Equally engaging stories by Margaret Atwood, Beryl Bainbridge, Laurie Colwin and Alice Munro also appear in this collection, which contains a strong message of hope throughout. (May)