The Springs of Affection - Tapa blanda

‘These savage, poignant stories should bring her back to the table of modern fiction, where her place has been so empty for so long.’
New York Times

‘Among my favourites of all time... pure and strong. It is a great joy to see them re-issued.’
Alice Munro

‘How and why these Dublin stories were ever allowed to drift out of earshot is one of the great literary puzzles.’
Mavis Gallant

A modern classic – a collection of tales about Dublin from an unsung master of the short story

Never before published in the UK, Maeve Brennan’s Dublin stories are unsung masterpieces.

Brennan left her native Dublin for the States before she was twenty years old, in 1934, and for most of her life worked for the New Yorker, writing book reviews, fashion notes – and these magnificent stories.

The stories, set mainly in suburban, lower middle-class Dublin between the wars, are divided into 3 sections: the first set of stories are autobiographical childhood sketches; the second and third sections contain Brennan’s masterpieces – a series of tales about two families, the Derdons and the Bagots, and the disappointing, lonely marriages which lie at the heart of each family.

Beautifully understated, every story peels back another layer, until the poignancy and emotional truth become overwhelming.

Up there with the great short story writers – Katherine Mansfield, Chekhov, George Mackay Brown, etc.