Sunday 22 March 2009

Short Story Sunday: 'Crocodile Tears' by A.S Byatt


Picture of Nimes where the story is set.

This is the first Short Story Sunday I've done in a while. I saw this book on Eva's pool for the Once Upon a Time Challenge and remembered that I had brought a copy of this a few months ago in the library sale, so I dug it out for this week Short Story Sunday.
'Crocodile Tears' is from A.S Byatt's collection Elementals: Stories of Fire and Ice. Patricia is out happily enjoying Sunday lunch in a village pub, she wanders off after having a few cross words with her husband only to return and find him dead in the middle of the pub. Without saying a word she quietly leaves the pub, returns home and packs leaving that very day for the South of France without a word to anyone.
She lives out a pretty anonymous life in the South of France, staying in a hotel and having only regular contact with one person. Nils Isakson, a Norwegian also apparently living in the hotel becomes a companion, they spend each day seperatly but meet each night for a drink after dinner. He is also on the run from his real life and his responsibilities and they form a companionship based on this shared escape.


Join me in reading at least one poem for National Poetry Month (April)

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