Although not as well known as her famous contemporaries of the era, Jane Bowles' writing has been critically acclaimed long after her death. Compared with the likes of Katherine Mansfield, she left only a small writing legacy - one novel (Two Serious Ladies), one play (In the Summer House) and a handful of stories. This collection gathers together a number of her stories, parts of Two Serious Ladies, the play and six letters written by Jane.

I enjoyed this book - it was very different to anything else I've read in a while, both because of the different types of writing elements within it and also because of Bowles' unique voice and the settings of her stories. Equally fascinating was learning more about Bowles' own life from the book - an American, she spent 3 years in hospital in Europe after a fall from a horse, and in her early 20s married Paul Bowles, a composer and writer (friends with Tennessee Williams). Despite both pursuing mainly same-sex relationships for the rest of their lives and often living in different parts of the world, they retained a strong and lasting bond together. Jane lived much of her life in Tangiers, where she was in a long relationship with a local market trader who was accused by Paul on a couple of occasions of using witchcraft against Jane and bringing on the serious illnesses which blighted the later years of her life and prevented her from writing.

Jane Bowles was the classic tortured writer, who never thought her work good enough and who fell into long spells of depression and alcoholism. She was once quoted as saying she'd never having had a day's happiness in her life. This theme of melancholy is certainly prevalent in many of her characters, but she was also a very original writer, full of surprises and creativity, who set many of her stories in exotic locations inspired by her own travels.

This is a book of writing to be admired and enjoyed in small bursts. Some of the stories were better than others, but many have stuck in my mind and were thoroughly enjoyable as you were never quite sure what direction they were going to take next. The play I enjoyed much more than I expected to, and the letters from Jane to Paul and various publishing friends gave a fascinating glimpse into her life. She was eccentric and no doubt hard work to be around, but then weren't most of the writing greats?

This article is worth reading for more information on Jane Bowles:

http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/the-madness-of-queen-jane

4 stars - it struggled to keep my attention in places, but overall was an interesting read and it's impossible not to finish totally fascinated by the enigma that was Jane Bowles. ( )