A review by hollydunndesign
The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher and Other Stories by Hilary Mantel

4.0

All but the title short story have been published previously, so Mantel’s collection does not have the same continuity of theme that Atwood’s does. However, this is still a great read. Some of the stories are very subtle, and require some reading between the lines, slowly revealing a larger and often more sinister picture. The promise of the book is all in that title, and we have to wait until the end to read Mantel’s heart-stopping imagining of Thatcher’s assassination. In the meantime there is a writer living in a Muslim country who accidentally makes a new friend, a crushing tale of childhood friendship that is destroyed by poverty and prejudice, and an unsympathetic examination of anorexia which is utterly heartbreaking.