Monsieur Shoushana's Lemon Trees Patricia Duncker Paperback - 208 pages (21 August, 1998) Picador; ISBN: 0330371681

I walked down the road in the dusk to the house by the river. Here we drank coffee and Benedictines with Monsieur Shoushana, who has another home in Nice. I asked him if he has a garden there and he told me that he had the most beautiful lemon trees.
"Ah, yes. Two wonderful lemon trees. Just below the terrace. Do you know the blossoms? The most lovely blossoms. There are several hectares at the back of the house where we grow mandarins and blood oranges. I keep the grass very short and rough. We sell them to a vendor in the market. Yes, we make a little money on the side. There 's been panic buying in Nice since the war started. Crazy, isn't it? The economy in France isn't affected. We concentrate on the orange trees for fin it to sell. Rut at ten, eleven o 'clock at night, we sit out on the terrace and I can see the lemons gleaming in the dark ..."
From the author of Hallucinating Foucault comes this stunning collection of stories united by the themes of pleasure, passion, jealousy and revenge. With a richness of language and vividness of imagery, Patiicia Duncker creates worlds where the apparently innocent are far from harmless and no one ever turns out to be exactly what they seem. In 'The Arrival Matters' - the extraordinary novella which crowns the collection - the characters play out a sinister and atmospheric end game of a mysterious and supernatural history of love. Elsewhere, a jealous husband pursues his adulterous wife through the streets of Paris, a forbidden book subverts an authoritarian state, a T.V. crew get considerably more than they bargained for, and a lesbian community in uproar is described with wry humour and tenderness.
Patricia Duncker was born in the West Indies. She teaches writing, literature and feminist theory at the University of Wales and lives for part of the year in France. Hallucinating Foucault, her first work of fiction, won Dillon's First Fiction Award 1996 and the McKitterick Prize for the best first novel published in 1996. Patricia already has solid international reputation, and this collection will cement it.

Praise for Monsieur Shoushana's Lemon Trees

'every bit as good as her debut novel, Hallucinating Foucault, which is saying a good deal . . .
Penetrating and sparkling'
Philip Hensher, Mail on Sunday

'Her second publication, a collection of twelve short stories and a novella,
confirms Duncker as a writer of skilful and alluring prose . . . There is a
serpent-like charm about her writing - it is seductive and not always what
it seems' Literary'Review

'. . . this collection is thoughtful and charming.' Guardian

'Witty, wholly contemporary, the narrative moves easily over a wide range
of material. Unmissable.'
Nancy Good, Mail on Sunday

'I strongly recommend this book - the closing novella, the magical The
Arrival Matters on its own will justify the investment.'
Gay Community News

'These short stories are little wonders - crisp and colourful and very French. Duncker is a fabulously good writer.'
Attitude Magazine

'Utterly charming. An eminently readable collection.'
Gay Times

'(Monsieur Shoushana 's Lemon Trees) is a smartly written and cleverly themed work which revels in the mysteries of literary creation ... (it is) witty and diverting.' Literary Review

'Patricia Duncker uses lucid and beautifully pared-down prose to evoke brief interludes and meaningful moments (epiphanies almost) in the lives of her characters.' Bookseller

Paperback, good condition