Join us on a literary world trip!
Add this book to bookshelf
Grey
Write a new comment Default profile 50px
Grey
Subscribe to read the full book or read the first pages for free!
I want to read the book!
All characters reduced
Overhead in a Balloon - Twelve Stories of Paris - cover

Overhead in a Balloon - Twelve Stories of Paris

Mavis Gallant

Publisher: Open Road Media

  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

Summary

The City of Lights, as seen by one of its greatest citizens and admirers Paris has been inspiring writers for centuries. Its neighborhoods and people make for a never-ending flow of potential stories. Mavis Gallant, Canadian by birth but Parisian since the 1950s, has created an incredibly loving and accomplished tribute to her adoptive home. In this collection, Gallant illustrates the surprising sense of interconnectedness that comes from living in a big city, as characters from one story drift into another, disappearing only to pop up again much later. The book’s longest work depicts a wily art dealer looking to revive his business by “discovering” an obscure painter, despite the fact that the artist is both Canadian and no longer living. Other tales depict the experiences of the Pugh family, as its American relatives attempt to connect with their French roots.Overhead in a Balloon weaves together the threads and experiences of a multitude of Parisians, each story suffused with Gallant’s feel for detail and atmosphere.
Available since: 12/16/2014.
Print length: 198 pages.

Other books that might interest you

  • First Love Last Rites - cover

    First Love Last Rites

    Ian McEwan

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    Somerset Maugham Award winner: Dark early fiction by the author of Nutshell—“A splendid magician of fear” (The Village Voice Literary Supplement).   Taut, brooding, and densely atmospheric, the stories here show us how murder can arise out of boredom, perversity from adolescent curiosity—and how sheer evil can become the solution to unbearable loneliness.   These short fiction pieces from the early career of the New York Times–bestselling and Man Booker Prize–winning author of Atonement and On Chesil Beach are claustrophobic tales of childhood, twisted psychology, and disjointed family life as terrifying as anything by Stephen King—and finely crafted with a lyricism and an intensity that compels us to confront our secret kinship with what repels us.   “A powerful talent that is both weird and wonderful.” —The Boston Sunday Globe   “Ian McEwan’s fictional world combin[es] the bleak, dreamlike quality of de Chirico’s city-scapes with the strange eroticism of canvases by Balthus. Menace lies crouched between the lines of his neat, angular prose, and weird, grisly things occur in his books with nearly casual aplomb.” —The New York Times
    Show book
  • The Horla - cover

    The Horla

    Guy de Maupassant

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    Guy de Maupassant (1850-1893), a French author, was one of the most influential short story writers of the 19th century.'Le Horla' is a truly terrifying story of a man, told through the pages of his diary, who is under the malign influence of some strange, invisible, parasitic being which saps his life energy.De Maupassant's clear, pragmatic language contrasts eerily with the ghastly and macabre narrative and draws the listener into the sheer terror of the situation.
    Show book
  • JM Barrie: The Short Stories - cover

    JM Barrie: The Short Stories

    J.M. Barrie

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    Peter Pan is a classic story.  The Admirable Crichton is a classic play.  And here, in this volume are two classic short stories.  They are certainly of their day and perfect pieces of their craft.  And really that’s not surprising for JM Barrie was a writer of great note.  Short stories are often overlooked as being the poor, under-developed relative of a greater work.   But from writers of the calibre of Barrie this is just not so.  He picks stories and creates characters that drive, meld and create pages that in their numerically shorter length are in fact the perfect length.  Our stories are read for you by Richard Mitchley.
    Show book
  • The Adventures of Pinocchio - cover

    The Adventures of Pinocchio

    Carlo Collodi

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    Do today's children still learn what a "marionette" is? The beloved story of Pinocchio may represent a last lingering picture of a world not dominated by plastic or electronic toys. Pinocchio is a puppet made from a piece of wood that curiously could talk even before being carved. A wooden-head he starts and a wooden-head he stays - until after years of misadventures caused by his laziness and failure to keep promises he finally learns to care about his family - and then he becomes a real boy. For those who have seen the Disney movie the cast of characters will be familiar, from the Talking Cricket (who acts as his conscience) to Lamp-Wick, his partner in truancy and having heedless fun. Though the toys of today are far from the puppet shows in Carlo Collodi's book, his themes of being truthful, thoughtful, and dependable will always be timel
    Show book
  • The Judgment of Paris - cover

    The Judgment of Paris

    Leonard Merrick

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    The story of a bizarre love triangle. Two popular comedians, Robichon and Quinquart vie for the love of a pretty actress. She declares that she will marry the one who is a better actor... but how to decide? The pretty Suzanne's answer is that all Paris should decide. But how is this to be achieved?The two agree that to test their acting skills they should take on a serious acting role. But as they are famous as comedians, they realise it will be difficult to agree anyone to cast them in anything other than comedy. At this moment, a stranger joins them and asks some advice. He is the former public executioner, and is about to give a lecture for the first time. He is seeking some tips from the famous performers, as he is crippled with stage fright. Robichon offers to swap places and take over this performance...knowing that if he wins over the audience in this role, he will also win Suzanne's hand. Quinquart despairs. How on earth can he possibly beat Robichon's performance? But while the lecture is a masterful triumph, events take a most unexpected turn afterwards.
    Show book
  • Caterpillars - cover

    Caterpillars

    E.F. Benson

    • 0
    • 0
    • 0 
    Edward Frederic Benson (1867-1940) was an English novelist, biographer, memoirist, archaeologist, and short story writer, best known for his evocative and beautifully narrated ghost stories.Caterpillars is the story of a strange visit to the mysterious Villa Cascana, where one bedroom is inexplicably always kept empty. The visitor feels uneasy immediately on arriving, although there is no obvious reason why he should. And then the nightmares begin. Or are they nightmares? Surely the sinister, terrifying caterpillars which infest the empty room cannot be more than just a bad dream....
    Show book