SHORT STORIES

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30366, 15 February 1964, Page 3

SHORT STORIES

Winter’s Tales 9. Edited by I A. D. Maclean. Macmil-1 lan and Co., Ltd. 264 pp. - Concerning the colour question, what would be your attitude if your son, married to an African negro these many years and living in Brazil, brought his wife and young son to visit you in the quiet retirement of an English village? Would you, being a ■pukka sahib” colonel somewhat mellowed! by the years, be concerned about what the neighbours would say, and what would you do when village youths made a butt of your darkskinned grandson? The questions are resolved by Dianna Athill in “This is my daughter-in-law,” the best in this reviewers opinion, of 10 short stories by various authors collected in this volume. Miss Athill shows a deft and sympathetic touch in portraying the feelings of the characters. They are human and real The same quality of touching reality is achieved by Edna O’Brien in “Sister Imelda” and by Muriel Spark in “The Gentile Jewesses,” but one does not find the same conviction in the character-portrayal of the youth in Doris Lessing’s “Mrs Fortescue” whose loneliness and discontent lead him to rape an elderly prostitute. It is to be noted that of the 10 writers represented in this anthology six are women. Among the contributors are Mary Lavin, Terence Kelly, V. S. Pritchett and John Wain.