5-Star Review for The Human Ambit

Feeling grateful and humbled for an amazing 5-STAR review of my collection of short stories.

The Human Ambit: Love, ambition, revenge and other good human stuff told in short tales.

Kevin Ansbro's review:

Folkloric, whimsical and delightful. “The garden of the world has no limits, except in your mind.” ~ Rumi The Human Ambit is a mercurial anthology of short stories by Canadian author, Anne Collini. I happily spent an enjoyable few hours, spilling biscuit crumbs on my shirt, in the company of this enchanting book. Collini is a splendid storyteller who promotes the quality of human life in a miscellany of imaginative, often hugely funny vignettes. Love, life, death, it’s all there. The author shifts effortlessly from Shakespearean discourse, as in the tale of The Prince of Meander, to the unprogrammed thoughts of a lovelorn android in Red, Bloodless World. Dialogue is meticulously observed and artfully recorded, and we see a scrap of zoomorphism when we envisage The Prince of Meander’s wife ‘standing with her hens’ sending him off with ‘a pecking glare.’ I would also like to think that Fuckingham Palace would be a nice place to pop into on a flying visit and that I might one day be greeted at those pearly gates by none other than Benjamin Disraeli. Although Anne Collini’s read is a brief encounter, it is nevertheless a generous insight into the human psyche. And those anxious parents among you can find some succour, for herein lies the universal truth that children don’t always love their iPads more than they do their parents! Collini recognises that our flawed, inequitable lives are still worthy of salutation and celebration, so “hurrah” for us humans! I can think of far worse ways to spend a couple of hours, fuelled (since you ask) by three cups of tea and an abstemious supply of choccie biscuits! : )