This is a lovely little hardback edition of one of Carol Shields' short story collections. I rescued it from a charity shop where it was languishing, despite being a very thoughtful gift (it has two rather sweet inscriptions inside the front cover). It's been in my permanent collection for several years, but I got a copy of Carol Shields' Collected Stories for Christmas, which includes all the stories from Various Miracles, so this volume is now ready to be set free.

I don't always enjoy short stories, but I love Carol Shields' writing style and each of these stories is a little gem. Each is self-contained; a perfect, miniature world. Some of the stories are very clever and some are intimate little portraits of a person or a relationship. My absolute favourite is the title story, "Various Miracles", which manages to be both.

Today is my bookcrossing birthday - I joined exactly a year ago! In celebration, I'm sending this off as a RABCK to an unsuspecting BookCrosser along with a bookray. I hope you enjoy it...

Thank you! I received this today and it was a lovely surprise on a day that had promised no fun or excitement at all. I'm really looking forward to reading it.

I’ve been reading this little by little as a bus book for ages and it has been wonderful. Perfect. I usually like a lot more plot than you get from these stories, but they are so beautifully written that they are satisfying just as they are – like shining little slices of life, illuminated. She brings wonder and beauty to the most ordinary situations. I can’t put it better than Alice Munro does: ‘They’re prismatic: they delight me at first by the clear and simple elegance with which they are made, then there’s something so bountiful and surprising, like beautiful broken light.’