The Two of Us

by Kathy Page

Overview

Longlisted for the 2016 Giller Prize

The stories in The Two of Us focus on pairs: intense one-on-one relationships and encounters. Characters undergo genetic testing, garden, overeat, starve themselves, consider suicide, travel, have their hair cut, fall pregnant, all while simultaneously driving each other towards moments where they – sometimes unwillingly — glimpse the meaning and shape of their lives, and who they might become.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771961004
Publisher:	Biblioasis
Publication date:	08/22/2016
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	176
File size:	408 KB

About the Author

Kathy Page is the author of seven novels, including Alphabet (an Indie Next Great Read of 2014, Kirkus Best Book of 2014, and Shelf Awareness Shelf Discovery Pick), The Story of My Face (longlisted for the Orange Prize in 2002), and The Find (shorlisted for the ReLit Award in 2011), as well as many short stories, previously collected in As In Music. She recently co-edited In the Flesh (2012), a collection of personal essays about the human body, and has written for television and radio. Her 1992 novel Frankie Styne&the Silver Man has made its American debut as a Biblioasis ReSet Book. Born in the UK, Kathy has lived on Salt Spring Island, British Columbia since 2001.

Table of Contents

The House on Manor Close 7

The Last Cut 31

The Two of Us 41

The Perfect Day 49

Dear Son 57

Different Lips 71

Sweet Agony 81

The Right Thing to Say 85

Pigs 97

Bees 111

It is July Now 121

Johanna 135

Red Dog 139

Daddy 147

Northern Lights 149

Open Water 163

Editorial Reviews

10/17/2016
Unlike the fabulist stories in Page’s last book, Paradise and Elsewhere, the short stories in this collection are firmly rooted in realism and focus almost exclusively on the confusions, heartbreaks, joys, and daily doldrums of domestic relationships. Page’s characters stand at the forefront of her collection; they are not always likable, but they are a superb reflection of the middle class. The standout stories include “The House on Manor Close,” which follows a family of three very different sisters and how they interact with each other and their quirky, garden-obsessed parents, first as children and later as adults; “The Right Thing to Say,” about a couple on their way to find out whether the wife has a debilitating illness; “Johanna,” in which a man abandons his lover and their newborn son; and “Northern Lights,” about a couple whose pending move from England to Canada exposes the true nature of their life together. Though the stories tread no new literary ground, they are so expertly crafted and hold such keen insights into the psyches of Page’s characters that the themes they cover feel fresh all the same. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

“Deceptively expansive short stories...her ability to find little frissons of shock or recognition in situations just this side of mundane marks her as a significant miniaturist...”—Quill & Quire

“The Two of Us contains stories about pairs, couples, dyads–mainly intense one-on-one relationships... [and] her duos are all united by a primal desire for intimacy.”—BC Booklook

“…refreshing and true to life.”—McGill Daily

From the Publisher