From the author of the Booker-shortlisted Small Things Like These.
From the opening story about a married woman who takes a trip to the city with a single purpose in mind - to sleep with another man - Antarctica draws you into a world of obsession, betrayal and fragile relationships.
In 'House Calls', Cordelia wakes on the last day ofthe twentieth century and sets off along the coast road to keep a date with her lover that has been nine years in the waiting. In 'The Singing Cashier', a local postman visits two sisters bearing fishy gifts in the hope that his favour will be returned in kind. One of the most moving and disturbing stories in the collection, 'Passport Soup', features Frank Corso, who sits alone eating green tomatoes and bacon, mourning the disappearance of his nine-year-old daughter: 'At one point in that late evening, she was there, and then she wasn't.'
Keegan's characters inhabit a world where dreams, memory and chance can have crippling consequences for those involved. Compassionate, witty and unsettling, Antarctica is a collection to be savoured.
'A beautiful, tender work of great clarity.' Sebastian Barry
'Simply put, Claire Keegan is one of the greatest fiction writers in the world.' George Saunders
'Among the finest contemporary stories written recently in English.' Observer
'Simply put, Claire Keegan is one of the greatest fiction writers in the world.' -- George Saunders
'Every line seems to be a lesson in the perfect deployment of both style and emotion.' -- Hilary Mantel
'Amongst the greatest practitioners of the short story form' -- Joseph O'Connor
'The beautifully crafted stories are like chilling, adult versions of fairy tales - albeit with echoes of Raymond Carver and William Trevor.' ― Sunday Telegraph
'Keegan has a remarkably poetic vision and she treats hurt and laughter, love and hate, with the same calm, almost ethereal style.' ― Sunday Tribute
'An exciting first book of deliberate, contemplative short stories.' ― Observer
'Keegan writes with such grace and accuracy that it is impossible not to be drawn into each world she creates.' ― Big Issue
'A writer already touched by greatness.' -- Declan Kiberd
'A genuine one-in-a-generation writer.' ― The Times
