Annie Proulx Stories

‘A major event’ YIYUN LI

‘There is no one like her’ NEW YORK TIMES

‘One of our very finest writers’ JULIA ARMFIELD

With a foreword by Colm Tóibín

From one of the greatest writers of our time, Annie Proulx, comes a collection of her most celebrated short stories and three brand-new additions, gathered together for the first time.

In these stories, Annie Proulx delves into the lives of characters marked by loneliness, violence, desperation and the wrong kinds of love. Across the bracing landscapes of the American West, New England and New Foundland in Canada, we meet rodeo riders and cowboys, ranch and rural workers and down and out drifters. In her most acclaimed story, ‘Brokeback Mountain’, adapted into an award-winning film, a passionate affair between two cowboys survives everything but the world’s intolerance. In each tale, we witness the hard times and unlikely elation of those who feel tied to the land, or are desperate to escape it.

Spanning nearly thirty years and drawn from Proulx’s four collections, Annie Proulx Stories gathers her finest and best-loved stories together for the first time. Proulx’s titles alone announce the singular genius of a grimly witty and unflinchingly humane writer: ‘Tits up in a Ditch’; ‘What Kind of Furniture Would Jesus Pick’; ‘People in Hell Just Want a Drink of Water’.

Complete with three never before collected stories, this beautifully designed new volume confirms her as a master of the form and celebrates one of the greatest American writers at work today. It will be treasured by existing fans and a new generation of readers alike.

‘Proulx’s stories read like full novels ... they can distil the passage of decades in a single sentence’ WALL STREET JOURNAL

‘Anyone reading these stories will discover a new respect and a new awe for the mystery of human experience’ YIYUN LI, author of Music Against the Night

‘Annie Proulx's stories are rough 'n tumble verbal adventures – precisely what I crave – full of riches, an astonishing command of lived life and much more than enough grace and mirth to keep us hopeful. This book is a big pay-off’ RICHARD FORD

‘A wonderful introduction to the work of one our most important writers ... celebrates her characteristic wit and economy’ OKECHUKWU NZELU, author of Here Again Now

‘The best book I've read in a long time. No one writes characters like Annie ... I already know I will return to it many times’ REBECCA IVORY, author of Free Therapy