Mavis Leslie de Trafford Gallant (Compagnon de l’ordre du Canada), née Young (11 August 1922 – 18 February 2014) was a Canadian writer. She spent most of her life and career in France, and was a prolific short story writer, while she also published novels, plays and essays. She was a frequent contributor to the New Yorker, publishing a total of 116 stories.
This book aims to collect her stories into a compendium, to illustrate the depth of her work which on its own stand as succinct stand-alone pieces, however, in a collection, each work illustrates the process of story writing and the subtle changes that accompany the writer as she advances through her career.
The design of the book is minimal—subtle notes of typeface changes indicate the progression of one story to the next, while keeping a suitable distance, without intruding into her story telling. Each story is also accompanied by the work of Martin Parr, a British documentary photographer and photojournalist. His works often depict intimate, satirical and anthropological aspects of modern life. The photographs, alongside Gallant’s writings, offer a closer look at the small nuances of everyday life, which oftentimes go unnoticed by its denizens.
