More to Life than Mr Right

At last - stories which redress the romantic balance! I liked everything about this collection - the title and cover design are bright and modern and the stories imaginative and thought-provoking. I particularly liked 'Hermes and Aphrodight' and 'Letting Her Hair Down; - allegories which turn a couple of established tales about face, with remarkable results - and 'India', a real tough nut of a story with all the strengths of Bernard Ashley's writing in its narrative and a bitter humour very much its own. Most exciting of all, there isn't a weakness anywhere in the collection. It's not a book whose messages need explanation -there are no attempts to impress (and, therefore, perhaps to confuse!) and no strident excesses. In classroom terms, the immediacy of its impact means that it can - and should - be read widely by fourth and fifth-year pupils - girls and boys, of course. It would be ideal for inclusion in the Wider Reading element of GCSE Literature, though its onsiderable potential as a class reader should not be ignored.