Sea Lovers

 Each of these twelve stories is a complete world, where ordinary lives are transformed, myths bloom into reality and the everyday is haunted by obsession and duplicity. A painter is made insufferable by success; a writer is driven to bury the evidence of his inadequacy. Metamorphosis fragments a marriage and beasts bear the consequences of human failings. Living creatures scratch out hauntings, rumours spread like fire. Fantastical beings are made flesh while mortals are engaged in a struggle that should be honourable but more often corrupts. Lyrical and macabre, Valerie Martin's stories are wry and unexpected too. The question 'Are we animals, or are we something else?' is answered by an ancient proposition both whimsical and disturbing: we are neither and both.

Review: In this new volume of 12 stories written between 1982 and 2014, it is evident that while Martin may have honed her technique over the years, her consistent goal has been to go deeper and see more clearly. She has succeeded - all of the stories are striking; all of them bear a resemblance to one another, like large families, where the cousins don't necessarily get along, despite looking alike ... There aren't many prolific authors that we want more of, but Martin is one of them. Like all authors, she has her characteristic themes and methods, but since her main interest seems to be systematic investigation of the strange and the out-of-the-way, she always produces something unexpected and revelatory. -- Jane Smiley * Guardian *

Martin's writing is a reward in itself, a wonderful precision-tool. She uses it to chisel at the human condition - and the effect is astonishing. -- Isabel Berwick * Financial Times *

Martin's complex and wonderful stories, with their careful rendering and sober insights, offer their own kind of relief for the reader: this book is a long, cool drink of water * New York Times *

Martin writes with amplitude, precision, grace and wit -- Margaret Atwood

Macabre and riveting ... This immaculate collection spans Martin's career from the tight and serious ambition of her youth, through a wittier, more playful phase investigating creativity through stories about music and painting as well as writing ... If this exceptional American author (winner of the Orange Prize in 2003) has passed you by, you're in for a treat. * Daily Mail *

Valerie Martin is a fleet-footed writer; you never quite know where she'll go next ... Sea Lovers is a beguiling selection of a dozen of Martin's best short stories. -- William Skidelsky * Observer *

Valerie Martin is a consummate stylist. A cool, spare writer who can make the fantastic utterly, often horribly believable ... cautionary tales about the mysteries of life * Boston Globe *

A writer of immense talent and insight -- Yann Martel

An insightful look into the evolution of Martin's writing and her talent for depicting our darker natures. Varied, engaging, and often shocking. * Kirkus *

This collection is rife with the unspoken cracks between people, and leaves a haunting, lingering impression * Publishers Weekly *

Praise for Valerie Martin: 'A wonderful novel, vivid, revealing -- Carol Shields

The writing - so prised and clean-limbed - is a marvel -- Toni Morrison

Valerie Martin is one of the best novelists we have -- Jane Smiley

Wonderfully ingenious, compelling, convincing and exciting -- John Banville

Fluently written, vividly imagined, moving and genuinely, chillingly spooky * Daily Mail *

Graceful, controlled and precise ... she moves around flawlessly in time and space: nothing frightens her -- Fay Weldon

Martin's observations are so perceptive and her descriptions so unerring the reader can't help but marvel ... brilliant -- Cathy Dillon * Irish Times *