Gentleman's Relish

A collection of dark, sometimes funny, carefully observed stories of human nature

By: Patrick Gale

Narrated by: Patrick Gale

Dark, moving and eccentric, GENTLEMAN'S RELISH is Patrick Gale's second collection of subversive and exhilarating short stories
'The short story form suits Gale's ability to zoom in on the smallest nuances of a relationship'
Kate Saunders, The Times

A lonely prison governor's wife develops a sudden passion for an unexpected hobby; a cookery connoisseur suspects his homophobic father and brothers are attempting to manipulate him and looks for revenge; a grandmother offers hair-raising family tales to her abandoned grandchildren; a sex demon in an old casket gruesomely transforms a honeymooning couple.

In his second collection of short stories, Patrick Gale creates worlds where the making and breaking of relationships -between mothers and fathers, husbands and wives, lovers and strangers -offer unforgettably dark and moving twists to these utterly unpredictable lives.

(P)2021 Headline Publishing Group Ltd©2009 Patrick Gale

Critic reviews

Dark, witty and often obliquely moving, these are tales of difficult fathers and gay sons, of lonely wives and random or deliberate acts of violence ... Gale is interested in power and the lack of it and his stories pull the reader in unexpected ways, offering worlds that are far from certain and where love or its absence can never be predicted (Carol Ann Duffy)

Further evidence of Gale's stylistic deftness, insight and wonderfully eclectic range of interests... Even as rural life and perspectives dominate, other stories consistently tease out fresh territory... worth every penny

Further evidence of Gale's stylistic deftness, insight and wonderfully eclectic range of interests... Even as rural life and perspectives dominate, other stories consistently tease out fresh territory... worth every penny

The short story form suits Gale's ability to zoom in on the smallest nuances of a relationship (Kate Saunders)

Gale's writing is sharply evocative ...[he] writes with such humanity and warmth in his novels that it comes as a surprise that these short stories are told in a different, darker voice

Gentleman's Relish is a hugely enjoyable collection which proves that the short story is still very much alive ... Gale has a distinctive sense of humour and it is not unusual for something sinister to be lurking beneath the apparently unruffled and genteel surface of his narrative ... the stories in Gentleman's Relish adroitly utilise carefully observed details as the background to events that cause the reader to give a delicious shudder of horror at story's end