Sue Orr’s first book, Etiquette for a Dinner Party: Short Stories (Vintage, Random House) was published in August 2008. It won the Lilian Ida Smith Award and was named as one of the top 100 books of 2008 by the New Zealand Listener. Sue lives with her family in Devonport, Auckland. She is currently working on her second collection of short stories, From Under The Overcoat, due out in 2010.
Read a review of Sue Orr's Etiquette for a Dinner Party in The Lumière Reader
Read "The Stories of Frank Sargeson," a short story by Sue Orr in the New Zealand Listener
Etiquette for a Dinner Party: Short Stories
An ageing taxi driver reflects on mortality and the choices he has made in life as he indulges in a clandestine Italian feast. The friend of a dying woman delivers a sardonic commentary on the frenetic ritual of cake-baking that precedes death and grief. A young boy sets out to save his grandparents' marriage after discovering pornography in his grandfather's memorabilia. This stunning debut collection observes a subtle unravelling of social etiquettes.
Often hopeful, always moving, these darkly quirky stories demand the reader's attention beyond the final page. Etiquette for a Dinner Party showcases the breadth of this new writer's talent - from the oh-so-recognisable and desperate efforts of a homesick tourist to enjoy the 'perfect' holiday, to the descent into madness of a lonely high-country farmer. Varied and accomplished, this book is entertaining, stimulating and original.