Miranda France

Age Shall Not Weary Them

The Purple Swamp Hen and Other Stories

By

Fig Tree 197pp £14.99 order from our bookshop

Lively by name, lively by nature: if there is one quality that unites the fifteen stories in this new collection, it is the author’s curiosity about life. Most are told from a single, female point of view, with characters musing on relationships and the events that have shaped their lives so far. The protagonists tend to be educated women – writers, artists, a copy editor, a BBC employee, an academic, a researcher, a retired spy (the title story, featuring a purple swamp hen which is resident in one of the gardens of ancient Pompeii, is a colourful exception). They are the kind of women who get invited to spend weekends in the Cotswolds at the second homes of wealthier friends who work in the City. They are adept at considering details and working out connections. They are aware of the need to make difficult accommodations in a marriage.

Sign Up to our newsletter

Receive free articles, highlights from the archive, news, details of prizes, and much more.

Follow Literary Review on Twitter

  • Last Tweets

    • 'Seventy years on, the time we have left to gather such first-hand testimony is running out.' John Keay on the sig… ,
    • The author 'seethes with contemptuous indignation at the shiny junk that an unregulated construction industry dumps… ,
    • 'The physical courage he demonstrated as a young man [...] gave way to intellectual power; radical thought, gifted… ,
    • 'While Jane Austen didn’t perhaps achieve the full recognition that she deserved in her lifetime, even then she out… ,
    • 'All I have is a voice To undo the folded lie, The romantic lie in the brain Of the sensual man-in-the-street And t… ,
    • 'You are interested in a particular subject; basic research hardens this interest into an obsession, after which th… ,
    • 'Keynes predicted that future generations would enjoy such an improved standard of living that they might work just… ,
    Follow Us