Collected Stories

Carol Shields’s novels include Unless (2003), Larry’s Party (1997), winner of the 1998 Orange Prize; The Stone Diaries (1993), winner of the Pulitzer Prize and shortlisted for the Booker Prize; The Republic of Love (1992); Happenstance (1991) and Mary Swann (1990). Dressing Up for the Carnival, a bestselling collection of short stories, was published in 2000, and a previous collection, Various Miracles, was published in 1994. Born and brought up in Chicago, Carol Shields lived in Canada from 1957 until her death in 2003.

'This collection offers a timely reminder of the complexity, subtlety and sheer intelligence of her humane vision. Shield's virtuoso but unflashy skill in handling narrative structure and voice makes it easy to overlook the stories' self-conscious artistry and reflexivity, and they abound with characters who employ second-order creativity to good and bad ends. No one does the gradual dazzle better than Carol Shields.' Samantha Matthews, TLS'Shields understood misdirection; and she always noticed what was really going on. Like Austen – whose biography was one of her last books – she knew the world's surfaces, but she also knew its depths.' Erica Wagner, The Times‘When you’ve been reading Carol Shields, you go outside, you listen to a conversation, you think about your own life or a friend’s life, and you notice more. And for this she should be thanked’. Hermione Lee, Guardian‘What she offers … is a study in eccentricity that relates it to the ordinary, familiar world. That's the world she never loses sight of … in what will endure of her finest fiction.’ IndependentPraise for Carol Shields:‘Her perceptions are so quick, her style is so acute, that she can tack a breath to the page and skewer a thought on a wing. It is her speciality to isolate moments that remain distinct in the mind for years, perhaps for a lifetime.' Hilary Mantel, Sunday Times'In her hands we believe anything can happen.' Guardian