Cat Brushing

Informationen zum Autor Jane grew up in Zambia and Cape Town and read English at Oxford. She has worked as a Group Analyst, teaching and training and lecturing internationally, for nearly forty years. Cat Brushing is her first collection. Klappentext 'Sensual, spiky, tender and utterly original' Pandora Sykes Vorwort 'Sensual, spiky, tender and utterly original' Pandora Sykes Zusammenfassung SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDGE HILL SHORT STORY PRIZE 'Sensual, spiky, tender and utterly original' Pandora Sykes 'A fierce and fascinating debut' Lily King I was told of an older woman who was asked by her granddaughter, 'Granny, when was the happiest time of your life?' 'I don't know,' she replied, 'I may not have had it yet.' The stories found in this collection explore the worlds of thirteen older women, reframing their intellectual and emotional lives in intimate vignettes that will shock and comfort in equal measure. In elegant prose Jane Campbell ignites the voices of women who are fighting to live on their own terms, energised by the stuff of human living: a need for companionship, attachments to love-objects, freedoms, integrity and sense of self. Cat Brushing confronts the tragic misconceptions of ageing showing older women to be nothing less than courageous, fearless and defiant in the face of overwhelming odds.

Préface
'Sensual, spiky, tender and utterly original' Pandora Sykes

Auteur
Jane grew up in Zambia and Cape Town and read English at Oxford. She has worked as a Group Analyst, teaching and training and lecturing internationally, for nearly forty years. Cat Brushing is her first collection.

Texte du rabat

I was told of an older woman who was asked by her granddaughter, 'Granny, when was the happiest time of your life?'
'I don't know,' she replied, 'I may not have had it yet.'

The stories found in this collection explore the sensual worlds of thirteen older women, reframing their intellectual and emotional lives in intimate vignettes that will shock and comfort in equal measure.
Susan finds she is attracted to her beautiful young carer, Miffy, and embarks on an intense emotional relationship with her. Nell discovers a cut on her leg, which leads her on to reflections on her past and a young girl in distress she encountered on her honeymoon. Linda perversely seeks out her former lover, Malik, on the banks of the Victoria Falls, despite having left him years ago to return to her settled marriage to Bill. Daisy, who, by a curious stroke of fate, finds herself at the funeral of her former husband, Tim, relives their early life together, his betrayal of her and the anguish of that time. The narrator of 'Lockdown Fantasm' enjoys the cool fingers of her government-authorised Fantasm on week one hundred and ninety-three of the long lockdown. In 'Schopenhauer and I', Martha, mourning her little dog whom she believes has been killed by the care home staff, works out how to manage a robot designed to monitor her behaviour, and to get her revenge. The narrator of 'Cat Brushing' communes with her elegant, soft Siamese cat, reflecting on the sexual pleasures of her past.

In spiky, elegant prose, Jane Campbell ignites the voices of women who are fighting to live on their own terms, energised by their desires and passions, freedoms, integrity and sense of self. Cat Brushing confronts the tragic misconceptions of aging and presents a vivid and transgressive peek into older women's lives.

Résumé

SHORTLISTED FOR THE EDGE HILL SHORT STORY PRIZE
'Sensual, spiky, tender and utterly original' Pandora Sykes
'A fierce and fascinating debut' Lily King

I was told of an older woman who was asked by her granddaughter, 'Granny, when was the happiest time of your life?'
'I don't know,' she replied, 'I may not have had it yet.'

The stories found in this collection explore the worlds of thirteen older women, reframing their intellectual and emotional lives in intimate vignettes that will shock and comfort in equal measure. In elegant prose Jane Campbell ignites the voices of women who are fighting to live on their own terms, energised by the stuff of human living: a need for companionship, attachments to love-objects, freedoms, integrity and sense of self. Cat Brushing confronts the tragic misconceptions of ageing showing older women to be nothing less than courageous, fearless and defiant in the face of overwhelming odds.