A collection of twelve stories, features stories of a hapless petty thief, a light-skinned Guyanese girl, and a stranger in England who experiences a recurrent nightmare

SHAPE SHIFTER

Literature & Fiction

MELVILLE, Pauline

British & Irish

Pantheon

Shape-Shifter

A collection of short stories which are all set in the Caribbean and London. Pauline Melville is the winner of "The Guardian" Fiction Prize and winner of the Macmillan Silver Pen Award. This book was also awarded the 1991 Commonwealth Writers Prize for best first book.

The Women"s Press

"The whole purpose of magic is the fulfilment and intensification of desire," claims the ventriloquist-narrator as he tells his stories of love and catastrophe. The novel is a parable of miscegenation and racial exclusiveness, of nature defying culture and of the rebellious nature of love.

The ventriloquist's tale

Contemporary

BLOOMSBURY

The whole purpose of magic is the fulfilment and intensification of desire, claims the ventriloquist-narrator as he tells his stories of love and catastrophe. The novel is a parable of miscegenation and racial exclusiveness, of nature defying culture and of the rebellious nature of love.

The Ventriloquist's Tale

Literary

Souls are on the move in this collection of short stories. One South American president takes a sentimental astral journey round the scenes of his ruthless rise to power before being buried by an ungrateful nation; while a discerning parrot tours world cultures and learns about Christianity.

The Migration of Ghosts

In this collection of short stories, the author dabbles in and out of the occult. The reader meets Mrs Da Silva a 65-year-old matriarch of Carnival's Rebel War Band who wins the heart of a postman, and a widow who commemorates the death of her husband by winning a taverna's dance competition.

Bloomsbury Publishing, Limited

Pauline Melville conjures up vivid pictures both of savanna and forest and of city life in South America where love is often trumped by disaster. Unforgettable characters illuminate theme and plot: Sonny, the strange, beautiful and isolate son of Beatrice and Danny, the brother and sister who have a passionate affair at the time of the solar eclipse in 1919; Father Napier, the sandy-haired evangelist whom the Indians perceive as a giant grasshopper; Chofy McKinnon the modern Indian, torn between savanna life and urban future. This is a novel that embraces nearly a century, large in scope but intimate as a whisper, where laughter is never far from the scene of tragedy; a parable of miscegenation and racial elusiveness, of nature defying culture, magic confronting rationalism and of the eternally rebellious nature of love.

Bloomsbury USA

Spirits are on the move in Pauline Melville's fabulous short story collection. A South American president revisits the scenes of his ruthless rise to power-shortly after his own funeral. A transformed and sparkling city of London sets the scene for a company chairman's nemesis at the hands of his wife. In Andalucia, the spirit of the "duende" inspires an elderly widow to dance a death-defying flamenco. We meet splendacious Mrs. da Silva, sixty-five year old matriarch of Rebel War Band, as she boogies at a carnival. The ghost of Dante's Virgil, leading his pilgrim along perilous paths, is brought to mind as one friend guides another on her final journey.

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Books by MELVILLE, Pauline

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by MELVILLE, Pauline. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

SHAPE SHIFTER

Shape-Shifter

The ventriloquist's tale

The Ventriloquist's Tale

The Migration of Ghosts

The Migration of Ghosts

The Ventriloquist's Tale

The Migration of Ghosts

The Ventriloquist's Tale

The Migration of Ghosts