Plain Pleasures

Author: Bowles, Jane
Publication date: 11/11/2021
Imprint: Weidenfeld and Nicholson UK
Pages: 112
Format: Paperback
ISBN: 9781474620437
Series: W&N Essentials

‘The most important writer of prose fiction in modern American letters’ Tennessee Williams

‘A modern legend’ Truman Capote

‘Bowles is a master of the unforgettable phrase that no one else could have written’ William S. Burroughs

‘A dizzyingly original stylist’ New York Times



Alva, a widow, states a preference for plain ordinary pleasures – only to get drunk and flirtatious, and pass out in a strange bed when she is asked out for the evening.



Sadie, a spinster, goes to a holiday resort complete with pine groves, marshmallows and respectable clientele – to bring her nervous sister home, but instead comes to an eerie end herself.



Mary, a little girl, spends her days in a clay pit leading an imaginary army of hard-muscled men. But hen a strange boy invades her headquarters, Mary abandons her soldiers to follow him home.



Disturbing, unforgettable, totally unique – Jane Bowles’ short stories explore the hidden lives of women that only appear ordinary.



With an introduction by Chris Power