Fourth Estate Wednesday's Child

A dazzling new collection of short stories written over a decade by Yiyun Li, spanning loss, alienation, ageing en route to the strange edges of contemporary life. Li, a prize-winning author, returns to her earliest form with stories and a remarkable novella never before published in the UK. The volume gathers intimate, precisely observed moments—often quotidians with extraordinary heft—where suspenseful silences reveal what we cannot know. Critics describe Li’s work as quietly powerful and deeply perceptive, marking a continuation of her celebrated literary voice.

In these stories, a grieving mother makes a spreadsheet of everyone she’s lost; a professor forms a troubled intimacy with her hairdresser; and every year a restless woman receives an email from a strange man far away. Li’s characters strive for ordinary existence until the surface cracks and larger forces—death, violence, estrangement—come to light. Everyday details—the filched jar of honey, a mound of wounded ants, a long-hidden photograph—gain weight and meaning. Li’s writing is tender yet unsentimental, metaphysical yet precise, funny and horrifying, both omniscient and acutely aware of what remains unknown.

Kenmerken

• Over een decennium verzamelde verhalen
• Inclusief een novelle niet eerder gepubliceerd in het VK
• Thema’s: verlies, eenzaamheid, ouder worden
• Alledaagse details krijgen significante betekenis
• Enerzijds teder, anderzijds scherp en provocerend
• 256 pagina’s

Inhoud

• Een melancholische, scherpe literaire reeks korte verhalen
• Bekroond met lof van critici en lezers