Plain Pleasures

'The most important writer of prose fiction in modern American letters' Tennessee Williams

'A modern legend' Truman Capote

'Bowles is a master of the unforgettable phrase that no one else could have written' William S. Burroughs

'A dizzyingly original stylist' New York Times

"It's the truth," the women said from their mattress "Everything is nice".

Alva, a widow, states a preference for plain ordinary pleasures - only to get drunk and flirtatious, and pass out in a strange bed when she is asked out for the evening.

Sadie, a spinster, goes to a holiday resort complete with pine groves, marshmallows and respectable clientele - to bring her nervous sister home, but instead comes to an eerie end herself.

Mary, a little girl, spends her days in a clay pit leading an imaginary army of hard-muscled men. But hen a strange boy invades her headquarters, Mary abandons her soldiers to follow him home.

Disturbing, unforgettable, totally unique - Jane Bowles' short stories explore the hidden lives of women that only appear ordinary.

With an introduction by Chris Power

A W&N Essential

“Readers who've not yet read Jane Bowles are almost to be envied, like people who've still to read Austen or Mansfield or Woolf, and have all the delight, the literary satisfaction, the shock of classic originality, the revelation of such good writing, still to come. - Ali SmithOne of the finest modern writers of fiction in any language. - John AshberryA thoroughly original mind - a mind at once profoundly witty, genuinely unusual in its apprehensions, and bracingly, humanely true. - Claire MessudDeserves to sit next to Mansfield, Rhys and Woolf - Chris Power”

Readers who've not yet read Jane Bowles are almost to be envied, like people who've still to read Austen or Mansfield or Woolf, and have all the delight, the literary satisfaction, the shock of classic originality, the revelation of such good writing, still to come. Ali Smith
One of the finest modern writers of fiction in any language. John Ashberry
A thoroughly original mind - a mind at once profoundly witty, genuinely unusual in its apprehensions, and bracingly, humanely true. Claire Messud
A modern legend ... A very funny writer ... with at [her] heart the subtlest comprehension of eccentricity and human apartness. Truman Capote

A dizzyingly original stylist

New York Times

Bowles is a master of the unforgettable phrase that no one else could have written

William S. Burroughs

The most important writer of prose fiction in modern American letters

Tennessee Williams
Deserves to sit next to Mansfield, Rhys and Woolf Chris Power

Jane Bowles has long had an underground reputation as one of the truly original writers of the twentieth century. Born in New York City in 1917, she lived in Tangier, Morocco, with her husband, Paul Bowles, from 1952 until her death in 1973. Though she wrote only one novel, one short play, and fewer than a dozen short stories over a roughly twenty-year span from the early 1940s to the mid-1960s, Jane Bowles has long been regarded by critics as one of the premier stylists of her generation.

'The most important writer of prose fiction in modern American letters' Tennessee Williams 'A modern legend' Truman Capote 'Bowles is a master of the unforgettable phrase that no one else could have written' William S. Burroughs 'A dizzyingly original stylist' New York Times "It's the truth," the women said from their mattress "Everything is nice". Alva, a widow, states a preference for plain ordinary pleasures - only to get drunk and flirtatious, and pass out in a strange bed when she is asked out for the evening.Sadie, a spinster, goes to a holiday resort complete with pine groves, marshmallows and respectable clientele - to bring her nervous sister home, but instead comes to an eerie end herself. Mary, a little girl, spends her days in a clay pit leading an imaginary army of hard-muscled men. But hen a strange boy invades her headquarters, Mary abandons her soldiers to follow him home. Disturbing, unforgettable, totally unique - Jane Bowles' short stories explore the hidden lives of women that only appear ordinary. With an introduction by Chris Power A W&N Essential

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