Temtation Of Jack Orkney

Product Description

From Doris Lessing, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature, the second volume of her collected short stories.
Lessing is unrivalled in her ability to capture the complexities of relationships, and the stories in this wonderful collection have lost none of their original power.
Two marriages, both middle class, liberal and ‘rather literary’, share a shocking flaw, a secret ‘cancer’. A young, beautiful woman from a working-class family is courted by a very eligible, very upmarket man. An ageing actress falls in love for the first time but can only express her feelings through her stage performances because her happily married lover is unobtainable. A dedicated, lifelong rationalist is tempted, after the death of his father, by the comforts of religious belief.
In this magnificent collection of stories, which spans four decades, Lessing’s unique gift for observation, her wit, her compassion and remarkable ability to illuminate human life are all remarkably displayed.

Review

‘What do you say about Doris Lessing? She has shaped the attitudes of a whole generation of women; she has defined and punctured masculine pretensions and has torn strips off liberal double-think. This collection is, it goes without saying, a classic.’ Mary Hope, Spectator
‘Intense and tender, valuable and drily humorous stories with streaks of gold. Dazzling.’ The Times
‘Doris Lessing is the great novelist of the unspoken thing, of the part a husband and wife cannot tell each other, of the little things that people are reluctant to talk about. She seems to know everything and to forgive it, or, in the overview, to see nothing to forgive. Her work is suffused with a calm charity that reassures, heals and encourages.’ Diane Johnson, New York Times

From the Back Cover

Doris Lessing is unrivalled in her ability to capture the truth from the complexities of relationships and the stories in this wonderful collection have lost none of their original power.
Two marriages, both middle class, liberal and ‘rather literary’, share a shocking flaw, a secret ‘cancer’. A young, beautiful woman from a working class family is courted by a very eligible, very upmarket man. An ageing actress falls in love for the first time but can only express her feelings through her stage performances because her happily married lover is unobtainable. A dedicated, lifelong rationalist is tempted, after the death of his father, by the comforts of religious belief.
In this magnificent collection of stories, which spans four decades, Doris Lessing’s unique gift for observation, her wit, her compassion and remarkable ability to illuminate the complexities of human life are all remarkably displayed.

About the Author

Doris Lessing was one of the most important writers of the second half of the 20th-century and was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature 2007. Her novels include The Grass is Singing, The Golden Notebookand The Good Terrorist. In 2001, Lessing was awarded the David Cohen Prize for a lifetime's achievement in British literature. In 2008, The Timesranked her fifth on a list of "The 50 greatest British writers since 1945". She died in 2013.