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The Shell Collector Anthony Doerr 4th Estate An imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF First published by Flamingo 2002 This eBook edition published by 4th Estate 2016 Copyright © Anthony Doerr 2002 Anthony Doerr asserts the moral right to be identified as the author of this work This collection of stories is entirely a work of fiction. The names, characters and incidents portrayed in it are the work of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events or localities is entirely coincidental. All but one of the stories in this collection have appeared elsewhere, in slightly different form: ‘The Hunter’s Wife’ in Atlantic Monthly; ‘So Many Chances’ in the Sycamore Review and Fly Rod & Reel; ‘For a Long Time This Was Griselda’s Story’ in the North American Review; ‘July Fourth’ in the Black Warrior Review; ‘The Caretaker’ in the Paris Review; ‘A Tangle by the Rapid River’ in the Sewanee Review; and ‘The Shell Collector’ in the Chicago Review. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins. HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this ebook has been included or removed in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication Source ISBN: 9780007146987 Ebook Edition © December 2011: 9780007392469 Version: 2018-09-13 ‘These complex, resonant, beautifully realised stories sing. An entire world unfolds in each, memorable and rich; together, they form a remarkable first collection.’ ANDREA BARRETT, author of The Voyage of the Narwhal and Ship Fever ‘Doerr bears witness to history here – not the traditional history of big events or great people, but the small, anonymous corners from which the best stories can be told. Here is that rare and brave thing, a writer who doesn’t succumb to any of the easy temptations, but still manages to make a unique, powerful, and accessible music. Quite simply, this is the best collection of short stories that I’ve read in years.’ COLUM McCANN, author of Dancer ‘An impressive first collection…Doerr’s stories evoke the ecstatic feeling that comes from loving something or someone very much.’ TLS ‘Excellent stories…Doerr makes miraculous happenings seem natural because of his clean, classic style, an impressive achievement.’ Sunday Times ‘This assured literary debut has an almost ethereal quality about it: eerie and otherworldly in atmosphere, yet lucid, crisp and graceful in style. These short stories are linked by the overall themes of the complicated profundities of human emotion, the awe-inspiring beauty of nature and the numinous miracles of love…Doerr’s characters will hang around in your dreams long after you’ve finished the book.’ Venue ‘Doerr is fascinated by the way that the shape of things we can hold in our hands might be analogous to the shape of things we struggle harder to understand: love, loss, memory…When Doerr combines his talent for vivid observation with an understated look at some of the trials of being human he manages to move us far more often than not.’ Hampstead & Highgate Express ‘Loss, estrangement and distance are the collection’s keynotes. Doerr frames and executes these stories with seemingly effortless panache.’ Economist ‘The shell collector of the title is a blind man who roams the beaches of Kenya, feeling his way through the sand in search of smooth prizes. He’s just one of the enigmatic characters who populate the short stories in this strange, beautifully written collection.’ Sunday Tribune ‘Quite simply amazing. Not since Rick Bass’s The Watch has a first collection roamed so far in both language and landscape, presenting the natural and human-made worlds with equal beauty and awe.’ TOM FRANKLIN, author of Poachers for Shauna Contents
