Grand Union

Description

Grand Union is a “dizzyingly rich” collection that interleaves ten completely new stories with some of Smith’s best-loved pieces originally published in The New Yorker. The collection is famously “borderless,” moving exhilaratingly across genres and time periods. It ranges from a historical account of an Antiguan immigrant’s last day in 1950s London to a “slyly dystopian” future where a teenager chases spectres through virtual reality. Whether writing about a mother reflecting on the “destructive nature of desire” or a package holiday where global environmental collapse feels like someone else’s problem, Smith’s signature “mordant wit” and social observation remain as sharp as ever.