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Fiction Short Stories (single Author)

Simple Recipes

by (author) Madeleine Thien

Publisher
Knopf Canada
Initial publish date
May 2016
Category
Short Stories (single author), Literary, Cultural Heritage
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780345811219
    Publish Date
    May 2016
    List Price
    $19.95
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780771085123
    Publish Date
    May 2002
    List Price
    $18.99

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Description

From the award-winning author of Dogs at the Perimeter, a stunning debut now repackaged as a Vintage Canada trade paperback.

Longing, familiarity, and hope fill the pages of this new edition of Madeleine Thien's collection of stories, which explore the subtle dimensions of personal connections and the bonds that are fraught with tension--deftly weaving in conflicts between generations and cultures. With a masterful insight into the relationships that define us, Thien creates a cast of true-to-life characters who are all looking for ways to make amends and come to terms with the events that have shaped their lives: whether a woman searching her past for the moment when her family lost faith in itself, two sisters who keep watch outside their former home in the hope that their long-absent mother will return, a wife who helps her husband grieve for the woman he has loved since childhood, or a daughter who reflects on the simple ritual she shared with her father and when her unconditional love for him was called into question. Compassionate and revealing, delicate and wise, these stories chart the uneven progress of love and expose the heartbreaking truths at the core of our closest bonds.

About the author

Madeleine Thien's novel Do Not Say We Have Nothing was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize 2016 and won the Scotiabank Giller Prize 2016 and the Governor General's Award 2016. She is also the author of the story collection Simple Recipes (2001) and the novels Certainty (2006) and Dogs at the Perimeter (Granta, 2012), which was shortlisted for Berlin's 2014 International Literature Award and won the Frankfurt Book Fair's 2015 LiBeraturpreis. Her books and stories have been translated into 23 languages. The daughter of Malaysian-Chinese immigrants to Canada, she lives in Montreal.

Madeleine Thien's profile page

Awards

  • Winner, City of Vancouver Book Award
  • Winner, BC Book Prize's Ethel Wilson Fiction Prize
  • Winner, VanCity Book Prize

Editorial Reviews

Praise for Simple Recipes:
"Thien's gorgeous stories [are] dense with imagery . . . weighted with intention." The Vancouver Sun
"Seven spare, eloquent tales of family ties that fray but don't break. . . . Truthful and suffused with quiet ache: a welcome collection, with the Asian background presented without exoticism, as a matter-of-fact part of North American life." Kirkus Review (starred review)
"Sensuous and concrete, these stories feel near-perfect." Quill & Quire (starred review)

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