Description
Longlisted for the 2016 Giller Prize
The stories in The Two of Us focus on pairs, couples, dyads: intense one-on-one relationships. Lovers, spouses, siblings, hairdresser and client, mother and baby, teacher and pupil, girl and fox—these are the characters who animate Kathy Page’s stunning new collection. While undergoing medical tests, tending the garden, starving themselves, touring museums, travelling, considering suicide, and falling pregnant, they drive each other towards moments where the true shapes of their lives are glimpsed. With humour, tenderness, and occasionally ruthless observation, Page offers us a sense of who they—and we—might become.
United by her characters’ primal desire for intimacy, these stories reflect our yearning for meaningful connection. In doing so, The Two of Us strengthens Kathy Page’s reputation as one of the most powerful writers at work today.
PRAISE FOR THE TWO OF US
“Deceptively expansive short stories…[Page’s] 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 Page’s] duos are all united by a primal desire for intimacy.”—BC Booklook
“…refreshing and true to life.”—McGill Daily
PRAISE FOR KATHY PAGE AND PARADISE & ELSEWHERE
“Tight, strange, nifty stories.”—Margaret Atwood
“Moody, shape-shifting, provocative and always as compelling as a strong light at the end of a road you hesitate to walk down … but will.”—Amy Bloom
“Her fiction is sensuous and verdant, grafting lyrical prose onto stories and situations that appear almost as legends.”—National Post
“Rebelling against a literary orthodoxy that holds up stalwart realism as the true writer’s best and only friend, [Page is] obviously comfortable with exotic tales that don’t fall into preordained categories and which unfold in ways equally unpredictable and strange … marvellous … immersive and mystery-laden.”—Vancouver Sun
“Kathy Page knows that the things we can’t understand are often the things that terrify us the most.”—January Magazine
