Fifty short writings by Carol Shields are compiled in this collection, featuring over two dozen previously unpublished stories and essays. These pieces provide unique insights into her creative journey, enriching the understanding of her literary contributions. Scholars and fans alike will find value in this exploration of Shields's writing life, as it showcases her diverse talent and the evolution of her work.
Carol Shields Books
Carol Ann Shields was an American-born Canadian author who explored the intricacies of everyday life with profound insight. Her work often delves into the inner lives of her characters, examining their relationships, memories, and the quiet dramas that shape their existence. Shields possessed a remarkable ability to render the ordinary extraordinary, using precise and evocative language to uncover the hidden complexities within seemingly simple narratives. Her exploration of themes such as identity, family, and the passage of time resonated deeply with readers, establishing her as a significant voice in contemporary literature.







Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp
- 32 pages
- 2 hours of reading
A rollicking rhyming dinosaur picture book for young children.
Collected Stories
- 593 pages
- 21 hours of reading
For the first time all of Carol Shields' remarkable short stories -- some previously unpublished -- are gathered together in one volume. volumes: Various Miracles, The Orange Fish and Dressing Up for the Carnival. Some of the stories in these individual collections have never before been published in the UK, and we add to these wonderful shorter fictions a chapter from Carol Shields' last, unfinished, novel Segue. that won so many readers to her prize-winning novels such as The Stone Diaries and Unless.
Mister Sandman
- 272 pages
- 10 hours of reading
An oblique look at the capriciousness of modern life, this is the story of the Canary family. Little Joan is exquisitely tiny, plays the piano like Mozart and lives in a closet. Her sister Marcy is a numphomaniac with a poodle fixation, while Sonia is enormous, earns a fortune clipping0
One of the most successful and acclaimed novels of our time, this fictionalized autobiography of Daisy Goodwill Flett is a subtle but affecting portrait of an everywoman reflecting on an unconventional life. What transforms this seemingly ordinary tale is the richness of Daisy s vividly described inner life from her earliest memories of her adoptive mother to her awareness of impending death.
A Celibate Season
- 231 pages
- 9 hours of reading
In an original collaboration two award-winning authors, Carol Shields and Blanche Howard, have written an immensely enjoyable novel which give us both sides of a story about the breakdown of traditional roles, rules and communication in a marriage. A CELIBATE SEASON is the story of a married couple, Jocelyn and Charles, (Jock and Chas) and their self-imposed separation of ten months when Jock accepts a job in a city more than three thousand miles away from her family. As breadwinner and suddenly single again Jock is confronted with local politics, loneliness and advances from the opposite sex. Meanwhile back at home, Chas, an unemployed architect, is now a single parent who has to reacquaint himself with his teenage children, Mia and Greg, learn to run a household and shift his career priorities. Throw in an attractive young housekeeper, a mother-in-law who enjoys her wine, a touch of teenage angst, some unexpected home renovations and a disastrous Christmas dinner and you have modern family life.
Swann
- 416 pages
- 15 hours of reading
Carol Shields's award-winning and critically acclaimed "literary mystery," first published in 1987. Swann is the story of four individuals who become entwined in the life of Mary Swann, a rural Canadian poet whose authentic and unique voice is discovered only hours before her husband hacks her to pieces.Who is Mary Swann? And how could she have produced these works of genius in almost complete isolation? Mysteriously, all traces of Swann's existence — her notebook, the first draft of her work, even her photograph — gradually vanish as the characters in this engrossing novel become caught up in their own concepts of who Mary Swann was.
Larry's Party
- 352 pages
- 13 hours of reading
The new novel from the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of 'The Stone Diaries'. Larry's Party is about being a man in this part of the twentieth century, when so many supports have been removed, and covers the life of its protagonist, Larry, between the ages of 27 and 47, from 1977 to 1997, and illustrates how men have had to change; it looks at how you define masculinity in the post-feminist world. Two strands run through the book: work and goodness. The chapters are at once independent of each other and yet connected, with titles like: Larry's Friends, Larry's Look, Larry's Kid, Larry's Folks, Larry's Love, Larry's Penis, Larry's Speech, Men called Larry, Larry's Alternate, Larry's Party, Larry's Real Life Life, Larry So Far, Old Larry.
The Republic Of Love
- 448 pages
- 16 hours of reading
A celebration of love in its many guises, The Republic of Love recounts the heartfelt tale of two of life's unlucky lovers: Fay, a folklorist whose passion for mermaids has kept her from focusing on any one man; and, right across the street, Tom, a popular radio talk-show host who s been through three marriages and divorces in his search for true happiness.
Two stories from a marriage in crisis: thewife's story and the husband's story. The setting issuburbia, the time frame a week spent apart. She goes toa quilting convention where she has an affair, he stayshome to mind the kids and discuss manhood with a friendwho has been abandoned by his wife


