Stone Mattress: Nine Tales - Tapa dura

Dark and witty tales from the gleefully inventive Margaret Atwood . Witty verve, imaginative inventiveness and verbal sizzle vivify every page (Peter Kemp Sunday Times)

Atwood illuminates heavy themes with a lightness of touch, giving insight not only into the nature of stone but the trials and tribulations of flesh and blood (Anita Sethi Observer)

This collection of short stories is charged with a delightful cheekiness . Atwood has characters here close to death, dead already, unwittingly doomed or - in one memorable case - freeze-dried; but her own curiosity, enthusiasm and sheer storytelling panache remain alive and kicking. Anyone keen to consign literary fiction to an early grave will have to deal with her first (Independent)

What does it mean to be a woman today? Many writers have made this fertile ground their home, but few have been able to lay such enduring claim to it as Margaret Atwood . Her latest work, Stone Mattress, a collection of nine acerbic, mischievous, gulpable short stories, addresses themes that will resonate with anyone familiar with Atwood's writing . Atwood's gimlet eye and sharp tongue are turned on the ageing process to painfully accurate effect (Harper’s Bazaar)

With death tapping at her characters' doors in more ways than one, Atwood shows herself, through these exquisitely inhabited inner lives and darkly funny stories, to be pulsing with more imaginative vivacity than ever (Literary Review)

Here it is again, the sharp-clawed, gimlet-eyed, takes-no-prisoners Atwood whose humour is wickedly enjoyable . But there is beauty in this writing as well as harsh observational gems, and Atwood creates atmosphere with loving care, from the first sentence of the first story (Herald)

Atwood's trademark dark humour and withering social commentary are pervasive throughout and the stories are so stealthily plotted that I gasped at one particular denouement despite it having been clearly signposted in the story's title . Her skill enables the reader to stomach ambiguous endings that in the hands of a less accomplished writer might feel accidental, uncrafted. "Will she or won't she (pull it off)?" wonders the narrator towards the end of one of the tales. With this collection, we are never in any doubt ***** (Sunday Express)

Nine darkly funny tales had me truly engrossed . The characters are sharply observed and the plots imaginative. Atwood deploys words with the precision of a Swiss watchmaker. Pithy, powerful sentences evoke intense emotion or add more background detail than you'd think possible in so few characters. Hers is the work of a true wordsmith. Atwood's fast-paced tales had me gripped from the off . Stone Mattress is a delight to read - engaging, entertaining and wickedly witty. If you've yet to dip your toe into the world of short stories, you could do a lot worse than starting with either of these collections. Though for sheer originality, I'd recommend Stone Mattress in a heartbeat (Stylist)

After more than 50 books and decades in the literary limelight, Atwood can still surprise with the explosive originality of her ideas; her writing always fresh and alive . A darkly irresistible read (Lady)

Nine Tales, the subtitle of this collection of short stories, references that dreaded implement of torture, the cat o' nine tails, which lacerates the skin with its cotton cords. Metaphorically, that is exactly how Stone Mattress works - each tale, told with Atwood's exquisite economy of style, cuts deep (Vogue)

A recently widowed fantasy writer is guided through a stormy winter evening by the voice of her late husband.