The twenty-six always compelling, often astonishing, stories in this collection are published in chronological order, so readers can appreciate the Nobel prize-winning writer's progress from early experimentation, to full-blown magical realism. Each tale is not just a read, but an experience: you join a community in the thrall of a corpse in The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World; sail through The Last Voyage of the Ghost Ship a five-page story written as a single sentence, and feel your way, blinded, through The Night of the Curlews.