Property: A Collection - Tapa dura

‘Shriver’s intellect and talent, her political convictions and her impressive confidence are all on display ... assertive, frequently funny and altogether satisfying ... her confident grasp of the material and her natural gifts as a storyteller will keep you in her spell and leave you, at the end, slightly altered ... persuasive and richly entertaining’ NEW YORK TIMES

‘Phenomenal... Shriver has the gift for making one instantly curious, entertained, involved and ready to move in – no matter what the property’ OBSERVER

‘Genius’ STYLIST

‘At her best, she takers the familiar and mundane and turns it into something surprising and strange’ SUNDAY EXPRESS S MAGAZINE

‘All Shriver’s stories are satisfying. I exhaled a little triumphant “Ha!” at the end of each one ... Shriver is brilliant’ THE TIMES

‘Shriver remains a formidably sharp writer, one of the best we have’ EVENING STANDARD

‘Shriver is at her best here, an acerbic comedian, Dickensian in style, whose vibrant characters are best seen in dramatic action and dialogue’ FINANCIAL TIMES

‘Whip-smart ... Crisp, conversational and convincingly true to life, Shriver’s stories are a treat’ DAILY MAIL

‘A pugnacious, brilliantly articulate, hilarious collection’ i NEWS

‘Shriver is the master of the neat twist’ DAILY EXPRESS

The first ever story collection from the inimitable Lionel Shriver

‘Genius’ Stylist

‘Phenomenal’ Observer

‘Brilliant’ The Times

This landmark publication, the first collection of stories from a master of the form, explores the idea of "property" in both senses of the word: real estate, and stuff. These sharp, brilliantly imaginative pieces illustrate how our possessions act as proxies for ourselves, and how tussles over ownership articulate the power dynamics of our relationships. In Shriver’s world, we may possess people and objects and places, but in turn they possess us.

In the stunning novella “The Standing Chandelier” (‘a brutal treat’: Daily Mail), a woman with a history of attracting other women’s antagonism creates a deeply personal wedding present for her best friend and his wife-to-be. In “Domestic Terrorism,” a thirty-something son refuses to leave home, resulting in a standoff that renders him a Millennial cause célèbre. In “The ChapStick,” a middle-aged man subjugated by service to his elderly father discovers that the last place you should finally assert yourself is airport security. In “Vermin,” an artistic Brooklyn couple’s purchase of a ramshackle house destroys their once passionate relationship. In “The Subletter,” two women, both foreign conflict junkies, fight over claim to a territory that doesn’t belong to either.

This immensely readable collection showcases the biting insight that has made Lionel Shriver one of the most acclaimed authors of our time, described by the Sunday Times as ‘a brilliant writer’ with ‘a strong, clear and strangely seductive voice’.