THE BIGGEST FEMALE IN THE WORLD AND OTHER STORIES IS
PUBLISHED BY ROBERT HALE
In this collection of arresting stories, we are plunged into the dreams, delights and delusions of contemporary life and love. Her characters frequently seek solace through the power of the imagination, finding release in fantasy worlds. Escape, whether make-believe or literal, is an all-important theme. A girl escapes her own wedding by hiding in a cleaner’s cupboard and exchanging her bridal gown for a pair of workmen’s overalls. A frustrated woman finds sexual satisfaction with a gang of workmen re-tarmacing the road, before returning dutifully home. An elderly widow climbs a vapour-trail left by a passing plane, to rejoin her husband (on what would be their 58th wedding anniversary) in some transcendent, shining world.A common thread is conflict: conflict between desire and impotence, freedom and suppression, rational thought and a belief in the miraculous. In such ambiguous territory, happy endings may be few but there is always hope, in even the darkest stories, of self-fulfilment and personal redemption.
Perriam’s wide-ranging humanity, coupled with her lively mix of comedy and menace, makes this, her fourth collection, a deeply satisfying read.
Financial Times:
The verve and originality in Perriam's work stems from an ability to present people in very acute states of mind, as if this is the most ordinary fact of everyday life. Her courage in treating subjects that are are terrible, like the despair that comes with psychiatric illness or insurmountable human loss, is accompanied by such a fluid and easy writing style that her characters' turmoil is rendered as clearly and vividly as if it were one's own. Perriam's books are fused with an energy that results from all their jostling tensions, but they are also haunting and humorous.
Her latest short-story collection is filled with loss, yet, rather than an instrument of defeat, loss is often presented here as an heroic spur. This is because the characters have such well-developed inner resources - not the pioneering American sort, but the ability to create their own imagined worlds, which the harsh realities of their situations can hardly penetrate.
Sunday Telegraph:
The best of the stories are models of the form, bringing humdrum lives into brilliant focus, as events take an unexpected twist.
Daily Mail:
Any notion that the short story is a dying art form is easily dispelled by
new collections from three of the finest contemporary writers - Roddy Doyle,
Paul Theroux and Wendy Perriam.
Britain's most underrated novelist, Perriam handles subjects as varied as
the unrecognized tragedy of miscarriage and the sheer frustration of
automated phone responses with aplomb. She is completely up to speed on
everyday life, the hair salon, the charity shop, the department store, and,
above all, language as it is spoken. And she can write a sexual fantasy hot
enough to make most lads' mags blush.
Literary, funny, moving. In a word, wonderful.
The American:
In her writing, Perriam can be wicked, grim and hilariously amusing at the
same time. One thing she isn't, however, is boring. Her latest book of short
stories is a fascinating read from beginning to end. Love, lust, need, anger
and fantasy weave their way through the lives of her characters.
Make-believe weddings, imaginary lovers, and babies that never were exist
along with a strange kind of humour, combined with unavoidable tears. It's
an unputtable-down kind of book.
You can download a complete story "MAY" from The Biggest Female in the World below:
• CLICK HERE to download "MAY" (MS Word Document - only 52 kb)
(NOTE: This should be readable with most modern computers,
however you can download a free Word viewer from Microsoft if required)
• or CLICK HERE to download in Adobe Acrobat PDF format (64 kb)
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