Eli is an ordinary boy with an extraordinary gift. He has a rare vision of mortality that will set him apart from the world and tragically shape the course of his whole life. Eli is not the only loner. Sarah Palliser, taking refuge in an isolated country hamlet, finds unexpected solace in the haunted graveyard outside her window. Young Prince Mamillius, son of the King of Sicily, watches horrified as his father loses his mind. Cool-sighted artist Nan Maitland becomes obsessed by a mysterious wolf roaming loose in Windsor Great Park. And Eleanor Bishop, attending the funeral of an old friend, discovers how little she has understood their shared intimacy. Salley Vickers is a master of the uncanny and the unexpected. In this collection of stories she explores bereavement and betrayal, closely guarded secrets and common gossip, unforeseen endings and decidedly odd beginnings. The Boy Who Could See Death pierces the veneer of ordinary lives, discerning the strange and contradictory elements that make up human nature. Ambitious, lyrical, witty and disconcerting, these stories take a forensic look into the unconscious that will dazzle and enthrall. 'There is something rare and special about Vickers . . . She manages to touch something buried deep in all of us.' Independent Eli was not quite seven years old when he discovered that he was different. At that time, in most ways, he was a quite ordinary child, with the usual traits, good and bad, that ordinary little boys will have. But in one important respect he differed from the ordinary. One March day, Eli looked into the eyes of his friend Thomas Wilkes and said, 'You are going to die on Tuesday.' And when the following Tuesday, after school, Tommy Wilkes fell from his treehouse and broke his neck it was inevitable that questions were asked. 'A deceptively wild, seamlessly well-crafted collection.' The Times on Aphrodite's Hat 'A box of delights . . . both impressive and delightfully disorienting.' Guardian on Aphrodite's Hat 'Beautifully simple with a devastating emotional climax . . . ' Sunday Times on Aphrodite's Hat 'If you enjoy the work of Marilynne Robinson, Penelope Fitzgerald, James Salter or Anita Brookner, you should be reading Vickers.' Washington Post

Author Biography

Salley Vickers is the author of the word-of-mouth bestseller Miss Garnet's Angel and seven other bestselling novels, including Mr Golightly's Holiday, The Other Side of You and her latest acclaimed novel, The Cleaner of Chartres. Her first collections of short stories, Aphrodite's Hat, attracted wide praise and she now returns with a second collection, The Boy Who Could See Death. Salley Vickers is a former university teacher of literature and psychoanalyst and now writes and lectures full-time. She lives in London and Oxford.