Celebrating the publication of The Monkey’s Wedding and Other Stories, publisher Gavin Grant writes to tell us that Small Beer Press has “posted a story for your amusement, ‘Girl in a Whirl’ by Joan Aiken. It is, of course, from our new, posthumous collection by Joan. The stories in the book range from wildly funny to quite dark. (This story’s one of the former type—fresh and funny fifty years later).”
He also offers this review of the collection from John Clute: “Almost all the stories assembled in The Monkey’s Wedding—except for the devastating title story itself, from 1996, and ‘The Fluttering Thing’ from 2002, which is set on a journey towards Final Solution; it is even more terrifying than The Scream, also 2002—flow with a porcelain lucidity and gaiety that manifests the high energy of Aiken’s early prime.”
Grant says “Joan Aiken’s stories captivated readers for fifty years. They’re funny, smart, gentle, and occasionally very, very scary. The stories in The Monkey’s Wedding are collected here for the very first time and include six never before published, as well as two previously published under the pseudonym Nicholas Dee. Here you’ll find the story of a village for sale… or is the village itself the story? There’s an English vicar who declares on his deathbed that he might have lived an entirely different life. After his death, a large, black, argumentative cat makes an appearance.… This hugely imaginative collection of incongruous, light, and unexpected stories features Shelley Jackson’s spooky and eyecatching cover painting inspired by the story ‘A Mermaid Too Many’ and includes introductions by Joan Aiken as well by her daughter, Lizza Aiken.”
Table of contents:
Introduction by Joan Aiken
Introduction by Lizza Aiken
“Girl in a Whirl”
“Hair”
“Harp Music”
“Honeymaroon”
“Octopi in the Sky”
“Reading in Bed”
“Red-Hot Favourite”
“Second Thoughts”
“Spur of the Moment”
“The Fluttering Thing”
“The Magnesia Tree”
“The Monkey’s Wedding
“The Paper Queen”
“The Sale of Midsummer”
“Water of Youth”
“Wee Robin”
“A Mermaid Too Many”
“Model Wife”
“The Helper”