![]() ![]() In 'Necessary Noise', the Gospel story of squabbling sisters Martha and Mary and their temporarily dead brother Lazarus is transposed to an Emergency department in present-day Manhattan. ![]() Absorbed in great art and his own self-important insecurities, the boy is oblivious to a drama going on in his hotel. 'The Dormition of the Virgin', the diary of a nerdish English student on a mini-break pilgrimage to Florence, is about the gulfs between different nationalities and generations. It explores the silences in male friendship, the absurdities of tourism, and the discomforts of religion. Set in rural Louisiana, 'Enchantment' is a Cain and Abel story about two crayfishermen (one black, one white) who become rivals when one of them has a near-death experience and - on the Lord's instructions - sets up as a swamp guide. Set in Ireland, England, Canada, the USA, France and Italy, these stories feature a wide variety of men, women and teenagers bluffing and blundering their way through their lives. ![]() Several stories replay Biblical plots in surprising modern contexts. Two recurring themes are animals and all they mean to us, and babies (whether and how to have them). Donoghue delves into private dilemmas and contemporary controversies of all kinds, from religion to money, social lies to family secrets, sexual confusion to facial hair. The twenty stories are about some of today's touchiest subjects. ![]()
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