Author(s): Jane Stevenson

Fiction.

Jane Stevenson arrived on the British literary scene with a book called "Several Deceptions". A collection of four novellas, it was unashamedly erudite, marvellously witty, and just a little bit cruel. It revived a neglected form quite brilliantly. Now Jane Stevenson returns with a new collection of novellas, each one featuring a formidable woman. In "Light My Fire" a snobbish man is undone by a new young wife, and an ancient Aga; in "Walking with Angels" a housewife's mundane life is illuminated by the arrival of Ariel, an angel; and in "Garden Guerillas" a widow takes an elaborate horticultural revenge on her daughter-in-law.