cover image Winter's Tales, New Series Eight

Winter's Tales, New Series Eight

Robin Baird-Smith. St. Martin's Press, $19.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-312-08922-1

Less adventurous than recent editions of the popular annual series, this latest collection nevertheless contains several sparkling gems among its 11 stories. ``Carla, Cara'' by Monica Furlong shows adolescent love turning to tragedy as a homesick Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany falls for his reckless, sexually aggressive English cousin. Racial and class tensions simmer in Will Self's ``The Indian Mutiny,'' the monologue of a guilt-ridden talk-show host who recalls how, as a rebellious pupil, he drove a Yorkshire teacher to suicide. ``Sister Monica's Last Journey'' by Richard Austin serves up garish comedy in its account of an unscrupulous travel agent foiling a dead nun's wish to be buried in her native Irish village. In a more serious vein, Muriel Sparks probes the horror at the heart of a secretary's empty life in ``The Girl I Left Behind Me'' and Argentine Juan Forn offers a glimpse of the afterlife in the piercingly beautiful ``Swimming in the Dark,'' which shows a man conversing with his father's ghost. Chaim Potok, Angela Huth and Laura Kalpakian are among the other talents showcased in this richly eclectic sampler. ( May )