BOOKS
Fellowship Point
“The novel’s resolution — unexpected and yet, once we get there, satisfying and inevitable — is handled with such skill in its temporal layering, I had to tip my writerly hat over and over to Dark. What first appears to be the story of two old ladies in Maine turns out to be a sophisticated inquiry into the course of female lives, with time as an instrument of revelation, folding in on itself, opening out…”—The New York Times Book Review
“The novel’s various plotlines dovetail with amazing grace, culminating in a moving, well-earned climax.”—The Wall Street Journal
Think of England
It has been said that children are great observers but poor interpreters. Jane, who dreams of being part of a happy family, thinks she's responsible for her parents' misery. She wishes everyone would follow her grandmother's advice in times of crisis -- think of England -- a phrase that makes her feel safe. When the MacLeods gather for the Beatles' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show, Jane sees in the band the same profound pining she feels in herself. But later that night a tragedy dashes her hope for the future and burdens her with guilt for decades to come. Years later, Jane travels to London, where she meets a man who reignites her desire for a happy life, but again she is disillusioned. It isn't until she is a single mother with a daughter of her own that, at another family gathering, Jane comes to terms with the mystery of her past.
“Dark's prose is controlled yet resonant, and the novel...draws its substance from her compassionate insight into character, its grace from her observance of small yet defining moments....Now when we think of England, we'll think of this fine book.” –Orlando Sentinel
“Everything in this spare, eccentrically paced book is a pleasure to read.” –The New Yorker
In the Gloaming
When the austere and moving title story of this collection appeared in The New Yorker in 1993, it inspired two memorable film adaptations by HBO and Trinity Playhouse, and John Updike selected it for inclusion in The Best American Short Stories of the Century. In these ten stories, Alice Elliott Dark visits the fictional town of Wynnemoor and its residents, present and past, with skill, compassion, and wit.
“The stories achieve, in their style and beautiful detail, a wonderful clarity.”—George Saunders, author of The Tenth of December and Lincoln in the Bardo
“Beautifully composed...each story exudes the gravitas of a radically distilled novel.” Joyce Carol Oates in The New York Review of Books
“Dark writes with great sympathy for the complexity of ordinary lives. Her stories are like the proverbial iceberg: We look at the tip but are compelled to think about all that's hidden below.” Anne Stephenson in USA Today
“Wise, funny, and wrenching, Dark's stories illuminate the hidden corners of her complex characters' lives, catching them in the painfully comic acts of being themselves.” Elle
Naked to the Waist
This first collection of six short stories and two novellas explores complex, appealing protagonists, revealing the crux of their emotional conflicts.
“A strong dose of reality, sharp humor, and a caring for all her characters make this work an appealing one.”— The Dallas Morning News
“Bare-chested fiction used to belong to the Hemingways of this world, and now Alice Elliott Dark deserves credit for opening a Bryn Mawr franchise. Who can resist saying the obvious? Alice Elliott Dark’s future is bright.”— Carlin Romano, The Philadelphia Inquirer
“In Dark’s moving first collection of short stories and novellas, characters seek to counter-balance what they want to become against the reality of what they are.”— Ellen Kanner, The Miami Herald