Romance of the Thin Man and the Fat Lady

Sep 14, 2025 5:03 AM

Author:Robert Coover

'Paul stepped off the curb and got hit by a truck. He didn't know what it was that hit him at first, but now, here on his back, under the truck, there could be no doubt.'

One of 50 original and exciting books of short stories, publishing in February to celebrate half a century of Penguin Modern Classics.

This book contains Romance of the Thin Man and the Fat Lady, The Babysitter, and A Pedestrian Accident.

Reviews

A deeply moving, powerful, and unforgettable book

—— Michael Ondaatje

A truly astonishing novel – it goes straight to the heart

—— Hilary Mantel

A miracle of a novel which combines prose of bleak, unadorned beauty with a plot that keeps you up all night wondering how it will end... Clearly one of the masterpieces of the century

—— Colm Toibin

A novel of breadth, power and passion… From its poisonous and dramatic opening to its engrossing ending this novel will hold you in thrall throughout

—— Bernard MacLaverty

I believe Death and Nightingales is the finest novel by the greatest living Irish prose writer

—— Alan Warner

Crisp, taut and unsentimental...this tragic tale of gold, prejudice, terrorism, emigration, love and oppression remains an impressive and moving achievement

—— Observer

Death and Nightingales should put Eugene McCabe in the first rank of contemporary Irish novelists

—— John Banville

A work of the highest literary quality...only a master craftsman could bring a novel so smoothly and devastatingly full circle

—— Sunday Independent

Rare...exquisite...a cameo-like perfection

—— New York Herald Tribune

Speaks volumes about heroism and the human condition... A taut, page-turning narrative

—— The Times

Ingenious

—— Time Out

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