DORA D’AGOSTINO champions the little girl who refuses to be silenced in Grace Paley’s story ‘The Loudest Voice’: ‘Shirley Abramowitz, the grammar-school aged, spunky and unabashed main character of the story, now an adult, is recalling the first time she felt important, when everything and everyone conspired for her to be quiet and compliant.’
FESTIVE STORY: Rounding off the THRESHOLDS year, we bring you a festive treat in the form of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Christmassy short story ‘The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle’…
ANUSHREE NANDE recommends Truman Capote’s ‘A Christmas Memory’: ‘Capote is a master of evocative simplicity that makes even the ordinary shine and sparkle until you feel like you know the characters intimately…’
In a special Christmas post, we bring you O. Henry’s wintry tale ‘The Cop and the Anthem’: ‘When wild geese honk high of nights, and when women without sealskin coats grow kind to their husbands, and when Soapy moves uneasily on his bench in the park, you may know that winter is near at hand…’
In a special Christmas post, we bring you James Joyce’s festive short story ‘The Dead’: ‘Lily, the caretaker’s daughter, was literally run off her feet. Hardly had she brought one gentleman into the little pantry behind the office on the ground floor and helped him off with his overcoat than the wheezy hall door bell clanged again and she had to scamper along the bare hallway to let in another guest…’
JOHN VERLING loses himself in The Essential James Joyce at Christmastime: ‘I’d never thought of Joyce as a page turner, but I read ‘The Dead’ in double quick time, totally taken aback by its depth yet its simplicity…’
In a special festive post, we bring you Anton Chekhov’s short story ‘New Year Martyrs’: ‘”Happy New Year, Happy New Year…” he mumbles, staring blankly at the ceiling and breathing heavily…’
In a special Christmas post, we bring you O. Henry’s festive story ‘The Gift of the Magi’: ‘Three times Della counted it. One dollar and eighty-seven cents. And the next day would be Christmas…’
