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Books

Margaret Atwood settles her accounts with this new short story collection

A review of Stone Mattress, by Margaret Atwood. These sharp, wry, humane tales mark a return to form from the acclaimed author

13 September 2014

9:00 AM

13 September 2014

9:00 AM

Stone Mattress Margaret Atwood

Bloomsbury, pp.271, £18.99, ISBN: 9781408857168

Margaret Atwood is in the first rank of literary fame and her trophy cabinet is handsomely stocked; yet she has never fully shaken off the suspicion that her politics have spoiled her writing. Despite the practised prose, delicate observation and steady-handed drip-feed of plot, there sometimes rises off the page a teacherly spirit that grabs you by the lapels and says, ‘Now listen here’.

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