The Simplest Words

The Simplest WordsA selection of short pieces - both fiction and non-fiction - from one of Australia's greatest literary treasures.

From one of Australia's greatest novelists comes this fine collection, a storyteller's journey. These short stories and essays, written over the last forty years, comprise an insightful and intelligent meditation on the life of the novelist and the culture of contemporary Australia. Personal and intimate as many of these pieces are, this collection forms a kind of assured autobiography, of the sort that only Alex Miller could write.

Alex Miller's stories are told with a rare level of wisdom and profundity, engaging the intellect and the emotions simultaneously. Stories are, after all, in his blood.

Buy The Simplest Words from allenandunwin.com

Back to books

The Sydney Morning Herald says The Simplest Words is 'a rich, generous compilation that enticingly refracts our perceptions of one of Australia's finest novelists.'

The NZ Herald says 'American novelist Elizabeth Berg ... notes that "wanting to meet an author because you like her/his books is like wanting to meet a duck because you like pate". But this sophisticated yet - yes - simple selection makes me feel I'd like to spend time with Alex Miller. Even if he doesn't quack.'

Listen to a review of The Simplest Words on ABC Radio National's Books and Arts program