Anne Fine is acclaimed for her mordant wit and sharp observations in award-winning novels like Madame Doubtfire and The Tulip Touch. In Very Different, she demonstrates that her unique gifts are equally at home in the short story form.
A teenage boy in an embroidery contest ... a 'welcome home' party for a gnome ... the perplexing problem of the philosopher's daughter ... a stuffed Elk playing Cupid ... the darker side of a strange haunting — just a hint of what you'll find in these nine mini-classics from a master storyteller.
"Even when confined to a limited number of pages, Anne's ability to write accurately and brilliantly about family, friends and their relationships is easy to see. You can't fail to identify with the characters. Watch out for the quirky The Gnomecoming Party, the bittersweet Getting the Messages, and the very funny Partners in Crime. A very fine collection indeed!"
Sunday Times, 3rd June, 2001
"This collection of short stories shows the newly appointed Children's Laureate at her brightest and best. Pointed and perfectly paced, she exposes lives with scalpel-neat precision, from the boy wrestling with the dilemma of his sexuality in Getting the Messages, to the two sisters wrestling for their father's affection in The Ship of Theseus. Short stories don't get much better than these."
Lindsey Fraser, The Guardian, 19th June, 2001
Very Different is a collection of short stories for older children by Anne Fine, published by Egmont/Mammoth in 2001 to celebrate her appointment as the second Children's Laureate.
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ISBN: 0-7497-4370-0
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