A dozen stories: a dozen ways of looking at love, or the lack of love. Over five previous collections, A. L. Kennedy has shown herself to be a master of the short form, with a perfect way with sentences and a voice so distinct as to be instantly recognizable.

Here, as before, lies the battlefield of the heart, where characters who have suffered disaffection, alienation, or emotional damage somehow emerge — haltingly, awkwardly — into the astonishment of intimacy. And here, too, are the ones who will not shake off the hurt and the loss, who will not come through.

The extraordinary title story takes place on a railway platform, with a couple waiting for a train that never comes, and opens out into the husband's shocking admission of years of deceit, and a devastating portrait of a failed marriage, a failed man. Another story shows a woman who is, in every sense, lost and who finds herself — to her bewilderment and alarm — walking the aisles of a sex emporium holding an electric penis. There is great compassion in Kennedy’s stories, and deep, dark humour, but also a stronger sense than ever before that emotional paralysis can be loosened — that an impossibly uncomfortable lunch, say, between two apparent strangers, can culminate in a passionate kiss. “You do not know this man. He is practically a stranger. Only he's not.”

The author of six novels, three books of nonfiction, and five collections of short stories, A. L. Kennedy’s last novel, The Blue Book, was longlisted for the Orange Prize for Fiction, and her novel Day was the 2007 Costa Book of the Year. She has twice been selected as one of Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists and has won a host of other awards. She lives in London and is a part-time lecturer in creative writing at Warwick University.

A.L. Kennedy's profile page

An offbeat joy to read A.L. Kennedy’s propulsive prose...Kennedy is one of the most consistently dazzling writers of prose going today, and All the Rage is so dynamic and alive that it might skitter right off your coffee table.

Globe and Mail

After finishing Kennedy’s stories, one often has the urge to immediately reread them...This is one of Kennedy’s strongest collections.

Toronto Star

Kennedy's style is…untraditional and often daring…Her cadence and language are often poetic…dipping into Kennedy's bracing world is bound to leave a mark.

Winnipeg Free Press