Girl, Balancing & Other Stories

Reviews

This posthumous collection from the much-loved author, focusing on motherhood, war and women under threat, is an act of tender commemoration… there are new departures on the themes that preoccupied Dunmore: childhood, motherhood, war, friendship, forgotten lives. Wisdom and wit shine out from Helen Dunmore’s last stories…The simplicity of the writing is deceptive; Dunmore manages to say a lot about families, about the mystery of creativity, and the shock of seeing someone you thought you knew in a new light. Dunmore’s gift for period detail combines with the respect she has for her characters’ inner lives to produce an effect that is oddly moving. Dunmore’s love of history glints and gleams in this elegant, posthumous collection Whether musing on a portrait of John Donne or a friendship between two widows, the late, much missed Dunmore always has something worth saying These stories are mostly tasters, amuses-gueules to tempt new readers, and remind old ones of the future works that have now been lost. This book is the grace note to a lifetime of wonderful writing. I couldn’t recommend these stories more. A collection to cherish. It was her emotional concision that made her so exceptional, a quality on ample display in these posthumous short stories, more than 30 of them, some absolute gems. Expand reviews