Girls' Night Out/Boys' Night In Book

There's something exceptionally comforting about a short story collection like Girls' Night Out, Boys' Night In. Firstly, there's the choice--this is a truly bumper package, with more than 30 stories by some of contemporary fiction's most familiar names including Kathy Lette, Matt Beaumont, Mike Gayle, Josie Lloyd and Emlyn Rees. Not only is there some superb writing on offer but you're guaranteed there'll be a story for every mood you're in--be it optimism, anger, revenge, love or hatred. And if you embark on a story you don't like--and there may be a few of those--you can just move on. A few pages further on, there'll be another to grab you, such as "Obedience", the story of a local murder (a nasty stabbing with a cauliflower knife) told by a man more interested in his puppy's progress at obedience classes; or "Delivering Happyware", in which two teenage girls struggle with crushes and their summer job as door-to-door touters of "speedy mops", freezer boxes and toast cutters; or even "Little Boots", an "unfairy" tale about a man whose wife has long since become preoccupied with everything but him and his new dog--a rangy beast with outsized paws and a face full of teeth the size of hunting knives. Like Nick Hornby's Speaking with the Angel, Girls' Night Out, Boys' Night In has been produced for a good cause. One pound of every copy sold will go to War Child, a charity working for children in war zones whose lives have been torn apart by conflict. --Jane HoneyRead More