The Atmospheric Railway: New and Selected Stories

by Shena Mackay

The Literary Review : “The heart lifts at the prospect of a collection of stories by Shena Mackay. You can be certain of various laughter, a touch of the blade, underlying shadows, wit, sharpness of perception.”

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

432 pages, Hardcover

First published December 16, 2008

About the author

Shena Mackay was born in Edinburgh in 1944 and currently lives in London. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and also Honorary Visiting Professor to the MA in Writing at Middlesex University.

Her novels include the black comedy Redhill Rococo (1986), winner of the Fawcett Society Book Prize; Dunedin (1992), which won a Scottish Arts Council Book Award; and the acclaimed The Orchard on Fire (1995) which was shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction. Her novel Heligoland (2003) was shortlisted for both the Orange Prize for Fiction and the Whitbread Novel Award.

Reviews

[Caroline · Rating 1 out of 5]

Well written perhaps, but the stories had no point. Just as I was becoming invested in characters, the story was over and nothing had actually happened. Gave up on this one.

[Emily · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was reading this for 9 months and I kept trying to struggle through until the end. Only recently I really asked myself why I continue to read a book that I'm hating? The stories are either achingly boring or they would be pretty bland & in a normal world setting, but would suddenly take a supernatural turn for no reason. I'm glad I bought this in a charity shop rather than waste the full amount of money on this hardback, and I won't waste any more of my time finishing this book. Don't be fooled by the nice typographical cover! STAY AWAY FROM THIS BOOK!

[Hilary G · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well-written short stories.

[Othniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brilliant, career-spanning collection. A dense, meticulous style; tales focussing on the suffering of the genteel poor. One of the great short story-writers. But have a dictionary handy.