Free Love and Other Stories is a short story collection by Scottish Booker-shortlisted author Ali Smith, first published in 1995 by Virago Press. It was her first published book and won the Saltire First Book of the Year award.[1] and a Scottish Arts Council award[2] It contains twelve short stories.
"A Sweetly memorable collection" - The Times[3]
CoverAli Smith chose the cover of the first edition, a picture of Louise Brooks from the G. W. Pabst film Diary of a Lost Girl (1929).[4] The cover also includes a quote from Irish writer Bernard MacLaverty: "What a great bunch of stories".
Stories- "Free Love" : A teenage girl finds unexpected sexual freedom on a trip to Amsterdam...
- "A story of folding and unfolding" : A father unpacks his dead wife's underwear and is reminded of his first contact with her as an electrician rewiring a WAF dormitory...
- "Text for the day" : Melissa disappears and her concerned friend Austen discovers that nothing in her flat has been touched except her large book collection (from Agee to Yevtushenko) which lies scattered in a state of disarray. Melissa is soon in touch and asks Austen to send her a selection of her books annually as she is travelling the world, re-reading and distributing the pages as she goes...
- "A quick one" : A girl waits to meet her ex in a cafe and reminisces over the relationship...
- "Jenny Robertson your friend is not coming" : A girl has a meal with her friend Elizabeth in a restaurant in the Grassmarket before going to watch a film...
- "To the cinema" : A Sunday morning cinema usher describes her favourite films, the loss of her faith and her relationship with her boyfriend Geoff. Meanwhile a regular in the audience is secretly obsessed with her...
- "The touching of wood" : A girl describes a visit to the Greek island Spinalonga with her girlfriend...
- "Cold Iron : Anne McGregor has fond memories of her mother who has recently died...
- "College" : Following the death of her elder sister Gillian, Alex and her parents travel to her Cambridge College for the dedication of a bench in her honour. Afterwards her family plan a day in Kent but Alex hitches a ride in a lorry to Brighton instead...
- "Scary" : Linda travels with her boyfriend Tom to spend a night at his ex-girlfriend Zoe and her new partner Richard's. When the arrive they discover their host's scary obsession with River Phoenix...
- "The unthinkable happens to people every day" : In which a man suffers a nervous breakdown and drives to Scotland where he meets a young girl skimming stones by the edge of a loch...
- "The world with love" : A girl meets an old school friend and remembers when their French teacher 'went mad'...
Books mentioned in "Text for the day"
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Films mentioned in "To the cinema"
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Other prominent references
- Crazy by Patsy Cline features in "A Quick One"
- Queen Christina (a 1933 film starring Greta Garbo) features in "Jenny Robertson your friend is not coming"
- My first book -- A literary adventure from The Times 11 Dec 2004
- ^ "Historical Research Book Award". Archived from the original on 27 March 2010. Retrieved 19 September 2009.
- ^ "Grammar, Style, and Usage". Archived from the original on 16 July 2009. Retrieved 27 February 2009.
- ^ Back cover of 2002 Virago Press edition
- ^ "Home Page – the TLS".
