Beyond the Blue Mountains

by Penelope Lively

A collection of 14 short stories, ranging from the fantasy of Scheherazade to a dazzling example of chaos theory.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction, Literary Fiction, British Literature

Paperback

First published June 4, 1998

About the author

Penelope Lively is the author of many prize-winning novels and short-story collections for both adults and children. She has twice been shortlisted for the Booker Prize: once in 1977 for her first novel, The Road to Lichfield, and again in 1984 for According to Mark. She later won the 1987 Booker Prize for her highly acclaimed novel Moon Tiger.

Her other books include Going Back; Judgement Day; Next to Nature, Art; Perfect Happiness; Passing On; City of the Mind; Cleopatra’s Sister; Heat Wave; Beyond the Blue Mountains, a collection of short stories; Oleander, Jacaranda, a memoir of her childhood days in Egypt; Spiderweb; her autobiographical work, A House Unlocked; The Photograph; Making It Up; Consequences; Family Album, which was shortlisted for the 2009 Costa Novel Award, and How It All Began.

She is a popular writer for children and has won both the Carnegie Medal and the Whitbread Award. She was appointed CBE in the 2001 New Year’s Honours List, and DBE in 2012.

Penelope Lively lives in London. She was married to Jack Lively, who died in 1998.

Reviews

[Grier · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.5 stars

[Colin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Another rich and varied collection of short stories from the peerless Penelope Lively, dating from the late eighties and early nineties. As always, the author's sharp eye for human frailties makes for some tart and telling observations, laced always with much humour. There's a trio of Christmas stories, a macabre story of transformation, astutely observed pieces of social realism, and some feminist cautionary tales, all adding up to a very satisfying reading experience.

[Inkedmusingshi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This being my first foray into Penelope Lively's work, I enjoyed this quirky collection of short stories immensely. This collection primarily deals with marriage, relationships with magical realism interspersed with stories that caution readers against exercising a reckless sense of abandon in the quest to pursue adventure.

[Fiona Stocker · Rating 4 out of 5]

There’s a quiet but perfect feel about these stories, and a mischievous sense of humour. I’m about half way through, although I’ve started from the back. What’s emerging is that most of the stories are about a woman making a change for the better or having a win. Like the woman who is nearly robbed by the door-to-door salesman but gets the upper hand by cunning and luck. Or the one who has an epiphany in the Blue Mountains while her smug husband is at a conference. There are anti-heroines too, with one story being a round-robin Christmas letter from a helplessly interfering woman whose jokey, indiscreet comments about every member of the family are painful to read. I must say I’ve often been tempted to write a ‘tell-it-like-it-really-is’ version of my Christmas letter, but this one goes way too far! 💌

Sometimes when I’m looking to write in a new form, I look for examples. It’s the WAGOL principle - What A Good One Looks Like. These are perfect if you’re trying out short stories, as I am. They’re about everyday people and events, with just a small quirky twist. A delight to read, and they make it seem possible to write too.

[Madeline · Rating 3 out of 5]

Usually I put a fair amount of thought into choosing a book, but this I read pretty much at random. Finding myself alone on a backpacking trip, I stopped outside a crumbly old used bookstore in Lewes and asked the owner for "something literary that won't add too much weight to my pack" and got this. I guess it was a good recommendation as it seems like these stories would have wide appeal.

It's definitely front-loaded. "The Children of Grupp" might be one of my favourite short stories ever, but as the collection goes on we see a lot of character and relationship studies that failed to capture my imagination. A few of them were basically descriptions of the thoughts of a middle-aged housewife. The skill in writing these, I suppose, is creating a character or place that's shockingly relatable to a range of readers and I did find some of the vignettes strikingly well-crafted in that regard.

[Steph De Mel · Rating 2 out of 5]

I nearly gave up on this one; while its brevity convinced me to plough on, I didn't particularly enjoy the reading experience. I'm an admirer of Lively's exceptional skills as a writer (in particular, her novel "Moon Tiger" is phenomenal), but this collection of short stories fails to showcase these effectively. While I appreciate her ability to bring startling depth and intensity to portrayals of seemingly mundane events in these stories, I don't find these characters or narratives particularly engaging. Lively excels at detailed character portraits of women, and this short-form medium does little to facilitate such an exercise. I'll certainly read more of Lively's work, but I probably will stick to her novels from now on.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

SUMMARY - Slighter and lighter than usual fare, these tiny tales left me wanting more.
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I recently listened to Penelope Lively's archived Desert Island Disks. Lively remains one of my favourite authors and I save up her books as a treat, so hearing her speak about her inspiration and process between music was all rather lovely. On only one point did I feel any dissonance, which was when Lively said that not all authors are necessarily equipped to write short stories. The jarring note isn't because it's untrue, but because I suspect that Lively herself may be one of those whose best work isn't short-form.

In a separate Desert Island Disks (August 1980) William Trevor said that the author's main task is to find the right length for each story. So often Lively writes c.200 page books that seem to be perfectly formed, build, yet not outstay their welcome. Trevor's shorter 20 page stories so often feel the right size (much as Elizabeth Bowen's), despite being a tenth as long. Where Trevor and Bowen gain profundity through brevity, however, I felt Lively slide into slightness.

'Beyond the Blue Mountains ' includes plenty of dark humour, but with a butter-knife's inexactness rather than the rapier sharpness that Trevor or Bowen mastered. To take the first story, of a wife who reveals knowledge of her husband's infidelity on a holiday coach tour, it's satisfying in the way that agreeing with Gloria Huniford on Loose Women might be, rather than agreeing with one of Wilde's epigrams might.

Lively still outscores Trevor and Bowen for her body of work by mid-career; indeed possibly of any author excepting Dickens. I just didn't find these tidbits as satisfying as the full life's buffet that Lively normally offers.

[Barbara Grand-Scrutton · Rating 2 out of 5]

Short stories. Read for Book Group. I enjoyed the first story until the end. The other stories ranged from boring to unpleasant. None of the group liked it either. It was the subject matter and the way the tales panned out, rather than the actual writing.

[Rosebud · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely brilliant! Penelope Lively is one of my favourite short story writers, and this didn’t disappoint. A collection of everything short stories should be in terms of structure, characterisation and plot.

[Nick McLaren · Rating 3 out of 5]

Children of Grupp, The Cats’ Meat Man, In Olden Times, Season of Goodwill last just long enough to let the acid penmanship take effect, the others are largely forgettable

[Joyce Rigg · Rating 2 out of 5]

Not for me. It is a series of short stories that seemed to have no point.

[Lynn B · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

With every short story collection I always expect for there to be a few that aren't suited to my tastes and for the sake of the rest of the stories I generally ignore them in favour of a more positive rating.

But after finding the first story in this collection hugely disappointing, I found very little reason to look positively upon the rest. Don't get me wrong, there were 3 or 4 stories that I did enjoy and if they were in their own collection I would be rating this book higher. That, however, is not the case and I found the stories that I did enjoy were overshadowed by the rest/majority of the collection which I found to just be alright.

Some I felt were taken from a longer story, leaving me without the context or a resolution and others I couldn't find the point to the story at all. For the most part though, I found a lot of them unmemorable even if I did enjoy them at the time.

I did, however, really enjoy the writing style of the author and look forward to picking up another one of her books.

[Tim Love · Rating 2 out of 5]

After reading the first (title) story I wasn't sure whether it was worth carrying on. I didn't predict the 2nd story's twist, but when it came it was like meeting an old friend rather than an interesting stranger. The 3rd story was according to the blurb "a condensed masterpiece" but I found too long, leisurely and predictable. These "polished", "deceptively simple", "understated" stories with "subtle but significant events" are too subtle for me, the character development miserly and short-storyish.

[Michael Burge · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant, engaging stories that you'll wish were longer!

I loved "The Children of Grupp" and "Crumbs of Wisdom" in particular.

I had never read anything by Penelope Lively before I picked this up at a charity store recently. She's a deft writer who creates intriguing characters, steps back and lets them reveal all.

This kind of witty, light, humane voice is on the wane in writing today, which is a great shame.

[Meghan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely fantastic. Loved every story in the collection. Lively's ability to introduce humour into the oddest circumstances is amazing.

[Brenda Dejong · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! Great collection of short stories, giving us interesting comments on qualities of ordinary and not-so-ordinary people.

[Jpe90272 · Rating 3 out of 5]

A mixed bag of short stories, featuring the strange quirks of life.