Author: Patricia W Grey - Thirteen Families
These thirteen quirky stories range from the mysterious to the light-hearted. A woman is abducted. A father insists his son sign a premarital agreement. Two sisters plan to swindle the government. Treasure in an old tin trunk beguiles a young boy. An unexpected inheritance reveals a wife's hidden past. A woman comes home from prison...The stories remind us that every family unit is unique.
Thirteen Families, is available from www.blurb.com
Readers' reviews
Ingenious...LS Andorra
I really loved it...AD Andorra
We have thoroughly enjoyed reading your short stories with a "twist"...AR and CR. Welland South Australia.
I loved the book (and I'm not just saying that!) The stories are so diverse, you have an amazing imagination. They touch on all the emotions - happiness, sadness, laughter etc. and are full of surprises e.g. Twenty Years On! There was just one story I skipped during the first reading (yes, I've already read a couple twice) - Evil Tidings, but then I went back and read it. I think with all books it depends on one's frame of mind at the time. All the stories certainly provided food for thought, I found I couldn't turn the page and immediately start on another, needed time to digest. Thanks again for giving me the chance to savour family life! You are a gifted writer - good luck with the next book! Anna - Bulgaria
Loved your book. I've finished it and was very impressed with each story being so different from one another and some of the words used. Looking forward to your next novel. Rose. Fremantle. Western Australia.
I really liked your short stories, and have now passed them on to my daughter to read.... LF Andorra
...My favourite story was 'Living in the Peacehouse'... DM. Queensland, Australia.
...Great creative writing skills. Wondering what stimulates your subject matter...the last story, Widowed, was my favourite... Claudio Phuket, Thailand.
...I've just read your short stories of families and enjoyed them all...NB. Perth. Western Australia.
...I really enjoyed Thirteen Families, a wide range of different stories, very well written and interesting. Will look forward to your next book .. it was a great idea to give a taste of a future character in 'Twenty Years On'!...VG. Melbourne, Victoria.
...I loved the story about the pelicans...GS. Park City. Utah. USA....
The stories flow well and I couldn't put the book down as I was reading it, trying to work out what the twists might be. MD Melbourne. Australia.
...I read and enjoyed your first book - but really think short stories are your metier. Loved this book. Especially 'Evil Tidings'... CS Andorra
...What an imagination. Where do you get your ideas? The stories were so varied... CD Adelaide. South Australia
....excellent stories, but I wasn't so keen on the cover...Peter. Sydney
...I had plenty of time during a trip from Andorra to Paris and I enjoyed your book a lot. I read it with great pleasure. You are a real writer! Congratulations!...MA Paris
..I am one quarter through your book and love the way you describe things...VI. Rio Rancho. New Mexico.
...I loved all your short stories but one that tickled me was The Pelican Report. Could almost go back for a re- read in front of the fire as it is that time of year... SE Perth, Western Australia.
Sunday 15 September.
DIARI D'ANDORRA http://www.diariandorra.ad/index.php?option=com_k2&view=item&id=27753&Itemid=435
ACCENT FROM THE ANTIPODES!
Patricia Grey’s writing comes from her family. From a mother with an eventful life, who left behind her memories in print. It’s not unusual then, that the Australian, living in the Principality, centered her last book on dissecting family relations, in thirteen stories.
Thirteen Families is in English and for the Anglo-Saxon market, although it will be distributed in Andorra. Grey departs from the theme of her first novel Death has a Thousand Doors, about the mysterious disappearance of an Australian woman on arriving in the Principality and the resulting police search. Now her research is going in a different direction. How family ties differ.
“I take a long time to write, mostly because I like to do a lot of accurate research beforehand,” she explains. “In this case, stories that I stumbled across in the daily newspapers inspired me. Every morning I read two American papers, one Australian, El Pais from Spain and the Diari d’Andorra. I follow the political news, but am also particularly interest in the social content, which is more of an influence in my writing.”
And for that, in this book – in reality her third if you count her participation in an anthology The Five Senses with members of the Writers Circle – the stories are based on incredible events, like the article recently about the man, 107 years old, who the police shot because he was threatening them with a firearm. “How is it possible for a man of that age to be armed and threaten the police?” she wonders, amazed. I think about this during the night, and eventually I write a story based on the ideas the article inspired.
IMPROBABLE REALITY Perhaps this is one of the most unlikely of all is that the stories she recreates although it is based on reality. The stories all have the same objective – to make the reader reflect. Similarly she reflects on the past. For example. What happened to the girl from her classroom who went to Germany? Why on her return had she changed into a different person, solitary, isolated from the world, so different from her original self? Sometimes her reflections turn to differing ways of life and customs – such as signing a prenuptial agreement, which is so common in the United States of America, but much less common in Mediterranean areas.
The presence of the news is evident in the story of the man who shot his parents one night at home. He alleged in his defense that he had mistaken them for intruders.
Andorra, asserts Grey, gives her ‘the peace to write’ and the distance she needs to separate the real from the fiction. Far from the country of origin the narrations are clearer…she wrote Death has a Thousand Doors mainly when away from the Principality.
There is writing on her mother’s side. The family has just edited her mother’s memoirs, for a limited readership – but not because the vicissitudes of her mother’s life aren't gripping. When Grey's mother was seven she was sent to a convent and Grey's grandmother fled from England with a lover. Ten years later, leaving the seclusion of the convent, mother and daughter reunited in India, where eventually Grey's mother married. She and her husband and five children undertook a new journey to Australia from England after World War Two. This is the context and background that gives birth to literature in third generation Grey, who today resides in the Principality.
Watch more, speak less. When the society of the valleys (Andorra) is reproduced in her descriptions, Grey writes with such precise details and penetration that it is difficult to understand that she’s only been here a few years. “I have a system, which is to look and listen more than I speak. This is necessary when one goes into details of character and behaviour, and the reasons behind it.” The new volume of stories will see the light at the beginning of the year. “You can’t imagine how long the task of editing takes.” It will be distributed as an electronic book, a paperback, and part of the rights will be given to the charity “Room to Read,” founded by an ex director of Microsoft and dedicated to building and stocking libraries in disadvantaged villages and cities of the world.
