The Loudest Sound and Nothing

by Clare Wigfall

One long hot summer, Evelyn drowns a wasps' nest, and while digging among the tiny corpses makes a sinister discovery. A university professor arrives unannounced at the door of an Arizona fortune-teller, little knowing how this woman will alter his life. A sudden spate of disappearing newborns terrifies a young mother. As the Prussian army encroaches, the besieged city of Paris asks an enormous sacrifice of its city zookeeper. And over a Coca-Cola in an Andalucian village bar, a woman hears from a stranger the worst thing a mother can do.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Clare Wigfall was born in Greenwich, London during the summer of '76. She grew up in Berkeley, California, and London, and now lives in Prague. Her stories have been published in Prospect, New Writing 10, The Dublin Review, X-24, Tatler, and commissioned for BBC Radio 4. She was awarded the UEA Curtis Brown Prize in 1999. Her debut story collection THE LOUDEST SOUND AND NOTHING was published in the UK by Faber and Faber in September, 2007.

Acclaim for Clare Wigfall and THE LOUDEST SOUND AND NOTHING

'In these provocative, terrifying and bold short stories, Clare Wigfall flits through differing moods and scenarios with enviable confidence … Real fears, dark secrets, beautifully interpreted.' Catherine Taylor, Guardian

'Unsettling, brooding, and beautifully crafted. Clare Wigfall's stories display the range and talent of a true wordsmith. Read them slowly - treat them like rations of something delicious and valuable.' Tash Aw, author The Harmony Silk Factory

'Very, very good. The quality of the writing grips you from the beginning. She writes beautifully, with not a word out of place. Beyond the prose itself, there is something compelling about the narrative … it's precisely because of what she leaves out that what she leaves in is so riveting … There's a darkness at the heart of many of her tales that's redolent of Ian McEwan at his best … the best stories are outstanding examples of the form.' Nicholas Royle, Time Out

'Wigfall has written a fine collection of short stories - wry, subtle, excellently crafted.' Kate Saunders, The Times

'Wigfall's prose keeps the reader turning pages, creating whole new worlds and scenarios from one story to the next … This is a debut of masterpiece proportions and heralds the author as one to keep an eye on for the future.' Jacqueline Burton, Sunday Business Post

'Haunting and tantalising ... the book is a journey that moves easily between continents and time ... Wigfall inhabits these terrains completely.' Emma Jacobs, Financial Times

'Wigfall is a writer who can move from the slipstream of Angela Carter to Carvereque realism within the turning of a page, all with a commanding fluency.' Steffen Silvis, Prague Post

'Acutely observed ... at her best, Wigfall can create haunting and memorable short stories ... an ambitious work.' Freya McClements, Irish Times

'The scope and variety of these stories is breathtaking; I lost myself in each one, only to be transported by the next to somewhere - and someone - completely new. An exceptional collection.' Marie Phillips, author of Gods Behaving Badly

'Clare Wigfall's debut collection of short stories stretches over a broad canvas: from a besieged 1870s Paris, to the Arizona desert, to an island off the coast of Scotland … In spite of the diversity of time, place and narrative voice, these stories carry unifying undercurrents - dark, unsettling, occasionally macabre ones … Perhaps the best in the collection is "Caro at the Pool", a brief snapshot of a young teenager in the company of a much older man. In fewer than three pages, Wigfall alludes to strife, jealousies and dangers. She is an impressively mature and nuanced writer, skilled at harnessing the power of suggestion, and understands that silence can often convey more than words.' Mary Fitzgerald, New Statesman

'[A] natural successor to Helen Simpson ... a talent to watch.' Author Susan Hill

'The Loudest Sound and Nothing is the finest debut collection I’ve read since Clare Keegan's Antarctica – and like Keegan, Wigfall seems to have emerged as a talent fully-formed. These are sorrowful, disturbing and darkly beautiful stories, and they deserve, absolutely, to be read.' Peter Hobbs, www.theshortstory.org.uk

Reviews

[Annaliese · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm admittedly biased, since this is the first book I've read that was published by a friend of mine, but it's also really great! If you like literature and short stories check it out. This is a treasure trove of incredibly varied and haunting tales. I still can picture so many of them vividly, from mentally simple characters living in an isolated world on the north islands in G.B. to road trips through the south to find hope.

[Dieuwke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Four stars, despite not warming up to all of the stories in equal amounts. (Which of course is bound to happen with a collection of short stories, hey, even my OWN collection of short stories). They are nevertheless all beautifully and cleverly crafted. In his this collection Wigfall has a way of (not) mentioning the actual issue at hand, which does become predictable, but at the same time, just because one knows there’s more to come, doesn’t mean one knows WHAT is coming, and that’s craft as well.
Glad I bought a copy.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

When I ordered this book I didn’t realize it was a collection of short stories; however, I don’t regret reading it. Some stories stood out to me more than others. The Numbers received a lot of praise, but I didn’t really enjoy it as much as I enjoyed The Party’s Just Getting Started and On Pale Green Walls. The way Wigfall incorporates biblical references in those stories really fascinated me. Wigfall explains that she gravitates towards focusing on the characters in her stories and I feel like in some cases it worked, but in others it made the plot lack a lot.

[Alec]

#8
‘Did you just say ex-wife?’ one of the cherries practically yelled. ‘You have an ex-wife? How come I didn't know about this? You didn't tell me he had an ex-wife!’ she exclaimed, turning to the guy in the chain mail.

#17
A clock above the mantelpiece ticked a rapid staccato. She turned suddenly, parting sanguine lips into a smile, ‘And that, my dear, was the point at which I decided I would dedicate myself wholly to pleasure.’

[Ethel Rohan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought a dozen new books at the 12th Cork International Short Story Festival, all short story collections. Last night, I finished Clare Wigfall’s debut collection The Loudest Sound and Nothing (Faber & Faber, 2007). It’s an interesting, eclectic collection rich with seventeen diverse stories and a plethora of characters. I especially appreciated how Clare ended her stories–often on a downbeat and someplace surprising and unexpected, and always satisfying.

From Clare Wigfall’s, “Folks Like Us”:

“What happened next all went so fast I didn’t know what was going on at first. ‘Fore I knew it, Bonnie’s scrambled up and grabbed at my Colt which we always have close by us when we sleep, and a shot rings out, so damn loud it feels like the sky might crack up, and there was a fallin and a crash and then there was this goddamn fella in a sheriff’s uniform lyin just a nickel’s width from Bonnie’s toe. For a second there she just stood still and watched that fella lyin on the dirt. He was crumpled over himself, left leg bent back crooked, right arm reachin out almost to Bonnie’s foot, a pistol ridgin the dirt where it’d skidded from his hand, big face slammed up against the gravel, fat lips gookin out like a baby’s might when suckin, eyes still as marbles. And Bonnie just stood there quiet, her face pinched in like a doughball. She didn’t say nothin. I’d sat up and I could feel the sun hot on my neck and I could feel a trickle of sweat travelin down ‘tween my shoulder blades, real slow like, tricklin plenty, but still I didn’t curve back my arm to wipe it away. Then she done turns to me and out slips them thoughts that is skeetin through her mind, Clyde … Clyde … what you think? Maybe he’s not dead, Clyde.”

[Alan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Is it me or do some of these stories need further development - e.g. the title story seems a bit half baked to me. Also 'Folks Like Us' adds nothing to what is already well known about Bonnie & Clyde, similarly 'Night after Night'with wartime Britain. However the stories that do work: the wasps one, Caro at the Pool, The Numbers (and many more) are very good indeed. So maybe I'm being a bit mean and it should be 4 stars except I expected more from the National Short Story Award winner(yes it's jealousy). I think a slimmer book, a good edit, would have got 5 stars out of me.

[Margaret · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book, but I didn't love it. I loved the first paragraph, I loved the first two stories (and the last one).I think that Clare Wigfall is a really talented writer who I'm really happy to have discovered, but to me, this debut collection contains a few stories which just don't rise to the high level Wigfall sets for herself in "The Numbers," and "The Parrot Jungle." That's hardly a damning criticism...this is definitely a book worth reading and a writer worth watching. I imagine her next book will set the bar even higher.

[Katy Derbyshire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not so much my cup of tea, it turns out. Maybe I read too much or it was deliberate but in the longer stories I felt too much fell into place, there were too many twists I'd seen coming, although sometimes not all of them. What I did admire was the very short pieces, which did often shock me. And I suppose the breadth of voices is good too.

[Ruthie · Rating 2 out of 5]

Only giving 2 stars because (writing this in 2021, 13 years later), I don't have a clear recollection of any of the short stories. I know I only got half way through and intended to finish them one day. As the completer/finisher personality type that I am. But maybe I've grown up since then. It's ok not to finish a book.

[Jackie Chiknas · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book of short stories was written by our Creative Writing teacher. She read us some of the short stories while she was teaching us. The stories are quite inventive and well written.

[Elise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Yiyun recommended this book for the first story, but I can't get the one about rats and babies out of my head.

[Fitzy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read 'Numbers'

[Mew · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not the best collection I've ever read. I normally rush through short stories and have to limit myself but I found that I had reading this for four months. they just didn't grab me.

[Jonfaith · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tihana posted me this two days ago: such is alwasy a treat. I am no great admirer of story collections but this one was affecting for the most part.