A la Carte: and 15 other stories by famous authors

by Jason Cheriton (Editor), Diana, Princess of Wales (Foreword), Auberon Waugh (Introduction)

An anthology of short stories by famous authors who have given freely their talents for the National AIDS Trust charity.

Foreward - HRH Diana, Princess of Wales
Introduction - Auberon Waugh
The Inspiration - Jason Cheriton

A La Carte and fifteen other stories:
A La Carte - Jeffrey Archer
Lucky Dip - Deborah Moggach
A Dog in the Dark - Richard Adams
Tail - Bill James
A Safe Place - Anna Reynolds
The Case of the Parr Children - Antonia Fraser
Romance 1988 - Doris Lessing
The Bunting Affirms - H.R.F. Keating
Old Flame - William Trevor
The Village - George Mackay Brown
Sound Proof - Angela Keys
The Nice Boys - Isabel Colegate
Recipe for Victory - Maeve Binchy
The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring - Julian Symons
Vampire - Hilary Newman
Paperwork - Ruth Rendell

Postscript - Sir John Gielgud

Genres: Short Stories

181 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

Reviews

[Cameron Trost · Rating 3 out of 5]

A charity anthology featuring a mix of genres, with a number of suspense stories. For those who follow my reviews, you won't be surprised to know that Ruth Rendell's contribution was among my favourites. "Paperwork" is a touching tale of a child growing up in a cold home with grandparents and returning years later upon inheriting the house with a decision to make. Antonia Fraser's "The Case of the Parr Children" (with Jemina Shore investigating) is the only mystery story, and it's a ripper. Julian Symons offers "The Flowers that Bloom in the Spring", an enjoyable suspense tale about a gentleman with an "overheated imagination". Probably not a book you're going to hunt around for but worth picking up if you stumble across it at a garage sale.

[Z.K. Dorward · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ending of this story was super sweet; it was what drove me to review it.
I loved how Mark went from reluctant, to having an opportunity dropped into his lap and becoming ambitious about it.
The ending line tugged my heart, though.

[David Mitchell · Rating 1 out of 5]

The Archer story is the only one holding this collection together. Some of the stories were very poor.

I found this book at a Street Library and did the world a favour by throwing it in the recycling bin after I was done.

[Rupert Grech · Rating 3 out of 5]

One or two very good stories (Ruth Randell, Jeffrey Archer), several fair to ordinary ones and a couple of real stinkers.

[P.D.R. Lindsay · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like short stories if they are well written. This collection I nearly didn't try because I am not an Archer fan, but I am delighted I did. It's a wonderful collection of short stories ranging across the genres and by some outstanding writers. Even the Archer story was a cracker.

The Anthology came about as a way of raising funds for the Aids Foundation and I hope it did.
It deserves to be well read. It's a really good read.