A wistful tale about the stories we spin from fragments of knowledge.
Anders Bodén, an esteemed sawmill manager and casual tour guide to those unfamiliar with the small Swedish town he calls home, finds a happy outlet for his knowledge of trees and local history when a new pharmacist arrives in town with his young wife in tow. But then gossip begins to circulate around an association . . .
Part of the Storycuts series, this short story was previously published in the collection The Lemon Table.
Julian Barnes is the author of thirteen novels, including The Sense of an Ending, which won the 2011 Man Booker Prize for Fiction, and Sunday Times bestsellers The Noise of Time and The Only Story. He has also written three books of short stories, four collections of essays and three books of non-fiction, including the Sunday Times number one bestseller Levels of Life and The Man in the Red Coat, which was shortlisted for the 2019 Duff Cooper Prize. In 2017 he was awarded the Légion d'honneur.
