London Observed Stories and Sketches Year First Published: 1992 First Published by: HarperCollins Category: Short Stories This Edition: British first edition ISBN: 0-00-223935-3

From the book jacket:

'During that first year in England, I had a vision of London I cannot recall now ... it was a nightmare city that I lived in for a year. Then, one evening, walking across the park, the light welded buildings, trees and scarlet buses into something familiar and beautiful, and I knew myself to be at home.'

Doris Lessing wrote these words in 1957, and since then she has continued to observe both London and its inhabitants with the shrewd, compassionate eye of an artist. London Observed: Stores and Sketches contains eighteen perfect pen-portraits of Londers and their city, seen from a cafe table, a hospital bed, the back seat of a taxi, a casualty department... together making up one of the finest collections of short writing to appear in a decade.

Debbie and Julie
Sparrows
The Mother of the Child in Question
Pleasure of the Park
Womb Ward
Principles
D.H.S.S.
Casualty
In Defence of the Underground
The New Cafe
Romance 1988
What Price the Truth?
Among the Roses
Storms
Her
The Pit
Two Old Women and a Young One
The Real Thing

Also see:

• American Edition: The Real Thing