Old Babes in the Wood

Author Margaret Atwood
Narrator Margaret Atwood, Linda Lavin, Dan Stevens, Kimberly Farr, Rebecca Lowman, Bahni Turpin, Dawn Harvey, Allan Corduner, various
Publisher Random House
Publish Date 7 March 2023
Run Time 8 hours and 42 minutes
Format Audio
Genre Family life fiction, Modern and contemporary fiction, Narrative theme: Love and relationships, Short stories.

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What to expect

Brought to you by Penguin.

A dazzling collection of fifteen stories from Margaret Atwood, the internationally acclaimed, award-winning author of The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments

Margaret Atwood is celebrated as one of the most gifted storytellers in the world.

These stories explore the full warp and weft of experience, from two best friends disagreeing about their shared past, to the right way to stop someone from choking; from a daughter determining if her mother really is a witch, to what to do with inherited relics such as World War II parade swords.

They feature beloved cats, a confused snail, Martha Gellhorn, George Orwell, philosopher-astronomer-mathematician Hypatia of Alexandria, a cabal of elderly female academics, and an alien tasked with retelling human fairy tales.
At the heart of the collection is a stunning sequence that follows a married couple as they travel the road together, the moments big and small that make up a long life of love -- and what comes after.

The glorious range of Atwood's creativity and humanity is on full beam in these tales, which by turns delight, illuminate and quietly devastate.

©2023 Margaret Atwood (P)2023 Penguin Audio

Critics Review

Vitality and virtuosity have been the hallmarks of Atwoods literary career - and, as Old Babes in the Wood, published in her 84th year, shows, triumphantly continue to be so... Mortality shadows the book. Vivacity makes it shine

Sunday Times

If you consider yourself and Atwood fan and have only read her novels: Get your act together. You've been missing out

New York Times Book Review

Atwood shows mastery of the short form . . . [The] stories unwrap what TS Eliot called the gifts reserved for age. There are chips and fragments of lives, full of sass and sadness

Guardian

A gripping read... Old Babes in the Wood is further evidence of a writer in full possession of her powers. Atwood will never struggle to find readers, but this collection really is worth their attention

Financial Times

Atwood... is a brilliant and spiky storyteller who can seamlessly turn big issues into page-turners... These are Atwood's most personal tales so far

Sunday Times

The Booker winner writes beautifully about ageing and death . . . the silence after the best stories here is akin to how she describes the aftermath of a calamitous event

The Times

Nell and Tig are the ageing couple whose small dramas and deep feelings bookend this new story collection... brought achingly to life and sharpened by Atwood's dry wit and wily wisdom

Mail on Sunday

To be honest, we would read anything this woman writes, but Old Babes in the Wood is one of her best

Glamour

This set of interweaving short stories is a perfect way to get a more bite-sized read... There's a story in here that everyone can relate to

Woman & Home

The inimitable author of The Handmaid's Tail is spectacular at short stories

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