25 Jul 2021

Elizabeth Smither's short story collection The Piano Girls

From Standing Room Only, 2:35 pm on 25 July 2021
Elizabeth Smither

Elizabeth Smither Photo: Jane Dove Juneau

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A strong musical theme plays through Elizabeth Smither's new short story collection, The Piano Girls.

In the title story,three sisters hold a recital each year in memory of their late mother, though it has also become a competition between them.

Other stories in the collection include an agonising breakup, efforts to capture an elusive cat called Min, and a woman who procrastinates by baking - another of Elizabeth's passions as it happens.

She's no procrastinator though, with 18 poetry collections and half a dozen short story collections to her name. 

Lynn Freeman talks with Elizabeth Smither about unexpected themes linking these stories.

Piano Girls by Elizabeth Smither is published by Quentin Wilson.