“Five Tuesdays in Winter” moved me, inspired me, thrilled me. It filled up every chamber of my heart. I loved this book.”
— Ann Patchett
King collects ten of her finest short stories--half published in leading literary magazines and half brand new--opening fresh realms of discovery for avid and new readers alike. Told in the intimate voices of unique and endearing characters of all ages, these tales explore desire and heartache, loss and discovery, moments of jolting violence, and the inexorable tug toward love at all costs. Release date: November 9, 2021.
Reviews for “Five Tuesdays in Winter”
A Most Anticipated Book of Fall by Vogue, TIME, Esquire, People, Washington Post, and LitHub.
“In our time of anxiety and isolation, King writes stories to curl up in, by which I mean they afford us something rarely celebrated in literature: comfort.”
— New York Times Book Reviews
“Breathlessly beautiful.”— Zibby Owens, Good Morning America
“King’s observations are both sharp and generous. Five Tuesdays in Winter is a collection worth dipping into again and again.”— Starred Review, Bookpage
“King’s collection continually breaks through stereotypes, defying expectation and not allowing the reader to pinpoint anything typical about her short stories...King honors how human life is never what we think it is, always changing and morphing. By allowing characters their full range of pain, vulnerability, and happiness, Five Tuesdays in Winter drops readers into imperfect lives, evoking awe and anger and admiration and futility, reminding us how it feels to be human.” — Ploughshares
King, who won the inaugural Kirkus Prize for Fiction for Euphoria (2014), can make you fall in love with a character fast, especially the smart, vulnerable, often painfully self-conscious adolescent protagonists featured in several of the 10 stories collected here, half previously published, half new. — Starred review, Kirkus
“Fierce, funny, tender stories that demonstrate both range and emotional heft.... all of them are stunners.” — Boston Globe
“These are stories of outsiders finding their people, of new perspectives, and they place King—already one of our most poignant and moving contemporary novelists—among Lorrie Moore, Alice Munro, and Mary Gaitskill as one of our great short-story writers as well.” — Vogue, “Best Books to Read This Fall”
King returns to the page with a collection of short stories that continue to prove her prowess in all things love and human connection. — Must Read Books of November 2021 — Entertainment Weekly
“King’s Writers & Lovers was a balm during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic. She returns with a collection of 10 short stories — half of which have not been previously published. All feature relatable protagonists, like the single father afraid to confess his feelings for his daughter’s Spanish tutor and the teenage boy who bonds with a pair of college students.”
— Washington Post, 15 Books to Read this Fall
“A masterful, enchanting collection of stories illuminating the spectrum of human love—the platonic, the unrequited, the forbidden and the unconditional.”
— People
“These stories crackle and shine, and King is a master of the thumbnail portrait: she can create a fully realized life in a single paragraph and then alter it in breathtaking ways. This is a must for fans of the short story.” — Publishers Weekly, starred review
“The acclaimed author of Writers & Lovers returns with ten shimmering stories, each one a gemlike exploration of love, loss, and grief… Each masterful story reminds us that King is one of our finest cartographers of the human heart.” — Esquire
“[A] dazzling new collection . . . Though the protagonists range from a young girl to a middle-aged gay man to a gruff nonagenarian grandfather, the stories share certain characteristics; King is a master at conveying through subtle description the small, painful, bumbling moments of life and the awkwardness of human interactions . . . A series of beautifully written character studies brimming with insight into the human condition.” — Library Journal, starred review
“These 10 stories from King…subtly explore love and grief, disappointment and triumph… A significant part of these memorable, re-readable stories' charm is that King gifts them with so much keen dialogue, truthful interiority, and fine backstory—the stuff of real life. An absolute must for King's fans, this would also be great for book groups.” — Booklist
“King follows five critically acclaimed novels, most recently Euphoria and Writers & Lovers, with her first collection of short stories. Ann Patchett raved that the new offering ‘moved me, inspired me, thrilled me. It filled up every chamber of my heart. I loved this book.’” — The Millions (“Most Anticipated: The Great Second-Half 2021 Book Preview”)
