A. S. Byatt — Elementals: Stories Of Fire And Ice

Vintage 1999 Paperback, 232pp. In the same delectable format as the matisse stories, this collection deals with betrayal and loyalty, quests and longings, loneliness and passion - the mysterious absences at the heart of the fullest lives a scholar pursues an elusive biographer, stumbling upon buried fragments of distant lives; a woman walks out of her previous existence and encounters an ice-blond stranger from a secretive world; a schoolgirl draws a blood-filled picture of jael; a swimming pool reveals a beauteous monster in its depths the settings range from the heart of provence in summer to the cold forests of scandinavia, form chalk-strewn classrooms to herbscented hillsides, from suburban streets to rocky wilds. (ISBN: 9780099273769). Good.