8:10am Thursday 9th July 2009
By Andrew Ffrench
If you have a spare £20, you could do a lot worse than buy the complete set of Ox-Tales, produced in aid of Oxfam. These are four collections of short stories contributed by renowned writers, and they have been gathered into four separate themes — earth, air, fire and water.
The four elements provide a loose framework for the stories and highlight key areas of Oxfam's work, water projects (WATER), aid for conflict areas (FIRE), agricultural development (EARTH) and action on climate change (AIR).
A different afterword in each book explains how the Cowley-based charity’s work makes a difference in developing countries around the globe, and poems by the writer Vikram Seth are also included.
Authors have provided new stories, or work in progress from their novels, and 38 pieces of original fiction have resulted.
The roll-call of authors who have joined the project is pretty dazzling, and includes Alexander McCall Smith, Lionel Shriver, Mark Haddon, John le Carre, Helen Fielding, Kate Atkinson and Ian Rankin.
I particularly enjoyed one story by Jonathan Coe about two families holidaying in Ireland, which had a touching twist in the tail.
The £5 paperback books are small, easy to read, and the covers are striking and attractively designed. I will be reading at least one story a night for some time to come.
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