Joanne Harris
Doubleday
Otago Daily Times, 2012
The short stories in Joanne Harris’s latest collection, A Cat, a Hat and a Piece of String, are every bit as eclectic as her novels. Traversing a range of genres from realism to the fantasy, with topics as diverse as Congolese children shooting rapids in exchange for alms from watching tourists to a love story involving a woman and a tree, there is something here for everybody.
Although the quality of the stories is variable, even the weaker pieces are still entertaining and the best are first-rate; my favourite, in which a rest-home worker treats two residents to a tropical holiday in their own lounge room, is a poignant reminder of both the vulnerability of the elderly and the way the smallest gestures can make all the difference to somebody’s life. This is a book well worth packing away for summer reading, and a reminder that there is more to Harris than Chocolat.
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