In Hugh Hood’s electrifying and elusive stories, apparently placid surfaces conceal violent emotions and human failures.
This book brings together 12 of Hood’s best stories, including “The Small Birds,” “Flying a Red Kite,” and “Le Grand Déménagement.” Written over three decades, the stories explore ordinary human behaviour and the moral order we constantly seek. Hood’s achievement is to moralize without judging, to balance his insight into human failings with his expansive sympathy for people and their plight.