Bunch of Fives

Helen Simpson's sixth short-story collection, Cockfosters, follows Four Bare Legs in a Bed (1990), Dear George (1995), Hey Yeah Right Get a Life (2000), Constitutional (2005) and In-Flight Entertainment (2010). A Bunch of Fives: Selected Stories (2012) includes five stories from each of her first five collections. She has received the Sunday Times Young Writer of the Year Award, the Somerset Maugham Award, the Hawthornden Prize and the E.M.Forster Award. She lives in London.

"This is an outstanding collection of stories-the product of a new, original voice" -- Hilary Mantel reviewing 'Four Bare Legs in a Bed' "Of all contemporary writers, Simpson has the most honest, the most authentic voice... [Her] unfooled but kind eye is matched by her ear for the ebb and flow of everyday talk. But she does more than just record: every word rings true. Dear George shimmers with grace and savagery and wit" -- Nigella Lawson "A stunner of a collection" -- Jonathan Franzen reviewing 'Hey Yeah Right Get a Life' New York Times Book Review "A masterful contemporary exponent of the genre. Simpson now deserves to be compared with Flannery O'Connor and Alice Munro" -- Robert McCrum reviewing 'Constitutional' Observer "Short stories are notoriously difficult to sell, but even people who don't care for the form make an exception for the work of Helen Simpson...Wickedly funny and painfully true...Dangerously close to perfection" -- Kate Saunders reviewing 'In-Flight Entertainment' The Times