The Lemon Table

All [the stories] are a joy to read as Barnes glides between forms...Each story is distinct and indelible, a tribute to the form. Above all they make you think about growing old and what, if anything, can be done about it. Glasgow Herald

"All [the stories] are a joy to read as Barnes glides between forms... Each story is distinct and indelible, a tribute to the form. Above all they make you think about growing old and what, if anything, can be done about it." Glasgow Herald "Masterly...his best stories have a strong air of Maupassant about them...extraordinarily effective...a compelling series of vignettes of old age, executed with great skill" Daily Telegraph "Sheer intelligence and acute observation carry the whole production...helps sustain a reader's faith in literature" New York Times Book Review "His stories have a photographic clarity, a psychological realism that embraces extremes of feeling...with a deliciously wry streak" Observer "Barnes's steely wit finds best expression when inhabiting the anguished and angry... Their brilliance rather plays upon our petty furies and failures, embellishing them with self-deprecatory wryness...entrancing and curiously cheering" New Statesman