The One That Got Away - by Zoe Wicomb (Hardcover)

About the Book

The appearance of Zoe Wicomb's first set of short stories, "You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town," precipitated the founding of a fan club that has come to include Toni Morrison, J.M. Coetzee, Bharati Mukherjee, Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak, and writers at the "New York Times," the "London Times," the Wall Street Journal, the New Yorker, and the Christian Science Monitor. Now, after two novels, Wicomb returns to the genre that first brought her international acclaim.
Set mostly in Cape Town and Glasgow, Wicomb's new collection of short stories straddles dual worlds. An array of characters drawn with extraordinary acuity inhabits a complexly interconnected, twenty-first-century universe. The fourteen stories in this collection explore a range of human relationships: marriage, friendship, family ties, and relations with those who serve us. Wicomb's fluid, shifting technique questions conventional certainties and makes for exhilarating reading, full of ironic twists, ambiguities, and moments of startling insight.
Long awaited, "The One That Got Away" showcases this established, award-winning author at the height of her powers.

Book Synopsis

These short stories from the award-winning South African author "combine the coolly interrogative gaze of the outsider with an insider's intimate warmth" (J. M. Coetzee).

Zoë Wicomb's debut short story collection, You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town, won critical acclaim across the globe as well as high praise from fellow authors including Toni Morrison, J. M. Coetzee, Bharati Mukherjee, and Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak. Now, after two novels, Wicomb returns to the genre that first brought her international acclaim.

Set mostly in the South African city of Cape Town, where Wicomb is from, and the Scottish city of Glasgow, where she now lives, this new collection of short stories straddles two worlds. With an array of expertly drawn characters, these twelve tales explore a range of human relationships: marriage, friendship, family, and the fraught yet often intimate relations between those who serve and those who are served.

Full of ironic twists, ambiguities, and moments of startling insight, The One That Got Away showcases this Windham Campbell Award-winning author at the height of her powers.

"An extraordinary writer . . . seductive, brilliant, and precious, her talent glitters." --Toni Morrison

About the Author

Zoë Wicomb (1948-2025) was a South African writer living in Glasgow, Scotland, where she was emeritus professor at the University of Strathclyde. She is the author of Still Life, October, The One That Got Away, and Playing in the Light, all published by The New Press, as well as You Can't Get Lost in Cape Town and David's Story. She was an inaugural winner of the Windham-Campbell Prize in fiction.