“Part of her consistent brilliance lies in her attention to ghosts and mortgages, the light on the moors and 1980s educational policy, adolescent self-discovery and irregular accounting. These stories hold worlds as wide as those of her longest novels.”
—The New York Times Book Review

“Those who’ve delighted for decades in Mantel’s fiction revel in her chameleonlike facility with language, her ability effortlessly to evoke wildly diverse characters, settings, and atmospheres . . . . The stories here enable us the more fully to appreciate Mantel’s wide-ranging gifts . . . . The overall effect of the collection is of a palimpsest, the powerfully atmospheric evocation of an unhappy mid-twentieth-century childhood in northern England.”
—Harper’s Magazine

“It’s a testament to Mantel’s brilliance as an author that even though the moments in these stories are subtle, the book somehow feels epic in its own way…And the result is magnificent. Learning to Talk is a lovely book, quiet but intense in its own way, and it proves—once again—that Mantel is one of the finest English-language authors working today.”
—NPR

“Mantel brings England alive, writing with detail and intellect.”
—Time

“Elegant, pitch-perfect sentences…Here is a writer who can do anything, anytime, anywhere.”
—Oprah Daily

“Although best known for her long novels, Mantel has also excelled at short, intensely atmospheric books…and here that economy shines, as when she homes in on the telling detail with surgical precision…Mantel was born a poor Northern girl, but she was raised to be a writer who would destroy kingdoms.”
—The Boston Globe

“Wish Mantel’s Wolf Hall (award-winning, bestselling trilogy) had never come to an end? You’ll enjoy her new collection of short stories.”
—CNN

“Puts all of the author’s skill and style on display…”
—Town & Country

Praise for Hilary Mantel

“She is our literary Michelangelo.”
—O, The Oprah Magazine

“Every page is rich with insight...soul-deep characterization and cutting observational skill.”
—USA Today

“Deep, suspenseful, chewy, complex and utterly transporting—truly a full banquet.”
—Elizabeth Gilbert, Wall Street Journal Magazine

“Sumptuous prose.”
—The New Yorker

“A treasure on every page.”
—The Times (UK)

“Majestic and often breathtakingly poetic…the writing comes as close to poetry as prose ever may.”
—Simon Schama, Financial Times