The Music at Long Verney: Twenty Stories

The twenty short stories collected here span five decades, from 1929 to 1977. Most of them first appeared in The New Yorker, and all of them appear here in book form for the first time. They are crowded with irrepressible, living characters and even more animated objects and incidents. There are stories of romantic love and the mysteries of marriage; of artists who speak the truth even as they distort reality; of gardens and houses and very fine things and of those who fancy themselves their owners. The centerpiece of the collection is a series of five linked stories about an eccentric establishment, the Abbey Antiques Gallery, and its singular proprietor, the urbane Mr. Edom — not to mention its uncontrollable inventory, staff, and clientele.