Perfect, Stories of the Impossible by Sally Emerson #BlogTour #Perfect @GracePublicity @sallyemerson8 @BooksQuadrant

Posted on June 30, 2022 by J-LBRBSBLOGS

“Sally Emerson writes like a dangerous angel” Douglas Adams

Book blurb

In these stories of menace and desire, Sally Emerson introduces the eerie into her keen-eyed portraits of everyday life. In them love, sex and stormy weather really do threaten or imprison the unwary.

A clerk in a register office receives death certificates dated in the future; can she save the victims? A childless woman finds a way to clone her husband; but will the cloned son be condemned to repeat the mistakes of the father? A suburban mother finds her health supplements have amorous side effects; can she resist the waves of lust and keep her hands off her neighbours?

Emerson’s tales of ordinary life invaded by forces beyond our control are beguiling and uncanny and spiked with her trademark black humour as she celebrates the tenuous gap between reality and unreality. Likened to Roald Dahl and Helen Dunmore, with a dash of Shirley Jackson, this is compulsive reading by a writer of the very highest quality.

My thoughts

This collection of seven short stories opens with a couple who have been trying to have a child for some time. The wife comes up with a solution. A solution that the husband doesn’t want. A story about fear, perfection, sacrifice and love.

Followed by six more stories which explore various kinds of love often with darkish, supernatural or mystical undertones but also with a dash of humour. They make you consider what you might do in the particular circumstances of each story. They pack so much into such short spaces which gives testament to Sally Emerson’s writing ability, imagination and clarity of thought.

This is a wonderful set of stories which make you think, make you wonder at the authors talents. Whilst I may have liked some more than others I enjoyed reading them all. A second reading only enhanced my enjoyment. I would certainly recommend Perfect and look forward to reading more from Sally Emerson.

My thanks

Grace Pilkington Publicity

My thanks to Grace Pilkington for the invitation to join this amazing BlogTour and to Quadrant Books for an eCopy of the book. I have not only been able to read Perfect by Sally Emerson on my blog today and share my thoughts about it but I was also able to share yesterday’s wonderful guest post from Sally Emerson with you all. If you haven’t already do take a good look at the other BlogTour posts.

Perfect is another of my #20booksofsummer reads. My list. Check out Cathy’s blog for details.

Information

Author

Sally Emerson is the award-winning author of six novels, including bestsellers Fire Child, Heat and Separation. This is her first collection of short stories. She lives in London.

Her website is: www.sallyemerson.com

The Bookseller

Tatler: new spring books

‘This wondrous collection of short stories from best-selling author Sally Emerson injects just the right dose of the supernatural into the everyday. In one, a public registrar receives death certificates dated in the future, and in another, an infertile couple discover a way to clone themselves.’
ELIZ AKDENIZ
4 MAY 2022, THE TATLER

Books

Check out all of Sally Emerson’s books on her website SallyEmerson

Publishers: Perfect, Stories of the Impossible by Sally Emerson is published by Quadrant Books (£8.99) on 1st June 2022. Paperback ISBN 978-1-73986-450-7