Collected Stories

Author(s): Peter Carey

Australian Fiction

The first Penguin edition of Peter Carey's Collected Stories, with a cover by Michael Leunig Collected Stories combines the brilliant, bizarre, funny, chilling pieces originally published in The Fat Man in History and War Crimes (plus three stories not in either). Those from Fat Man posit what-ifs, with the title story wondering how, were some post-Marxist utopia to declare obesity counter-revolutionary, a household of fat men would strike back. Those from War Crimes are all in one way or another about power - those who wield it, those who want it, and those who recall only its dazzling exhilaration and degradation. 'Impressive and entertaining. Each story ends on a melancholy but powerful note, like the sudden discharge of electrical energy which illuminates all that it touches.' Peter Ackroyd, Sunday Times 'Reading his stories is like being shot by a firing squad of angels.' Jill Neville, Sydney Morning Herald 'His imagination is soaring, his style beautifully disciplined, his eye for the truth unblinking.' Geoffrey Dutton, The Bulletin


Product Information

Peter Carey was born in Bacchus Marsh, Victoria, and now lives in New York. He is the author of thirteen novels (including one for children), two volumes of short stories, and two books on travel. Amongst other prizes, Carey has won the Booker Prize twice (for Oscar and Lucinda and True History of the Kelly Gang), the Commonwealth Writers' Prize twice (for Jack Maggs and True History of the Kelly Gang), and the Miles Franklin Literary Award three times (for Bliss, Oscar and Lucinda and Jack Maggs). His most recent novels are Parrot and Olivier in America and The Chemistry of Tears.

General Fields

  • : 9780143571254
  • : Penguin Random House
  • : Penguin Books Ltd
  • : March 2015
  • : April 2015
  • : books

Special Fields

  • : Peter Carey
  • : Paperback