
” To compare Anita Desai`s fiction with that of Chekhov or the short stories of Tolstoy is not extravagant; it is entirely warranted”. (Irish Times). Anita Desai is amongst our greatest & most insightful writers. On the occasion of her 80th birthday, The Complete Stories gathers together the short story collections Diamond Dust & Games at Twilight & the novellas of The Artist of Disappearance, with a new preface from the author. From the icy suburbs of Canada to the overcrowded B& Bs of Cornwall, via the hill towns & cities of India, Anita Desai observes human behaviour unflinchingly but not unkindly, recognising our ordinariness & our strangeness, & capturing both with quiet precision. ” All her stories are full of a confidence in human nature that is a rarity & a pleasure to encounter”. (Spectator). ” Anita Desai is one of the most brilliant & subtle writers ever to have described the meeting of eastern & western culture”. (Alison Lurie).