The Collected Storiesis a collection of award-winning writer Paul Theroux's short stories, each of which brimming with astute observations and sharp wit that will captivate readers the world over.

'[Theroux] makes and remakes his own world...the smell, sound, sight of his scenes is always strong, even pungent; and, even more, his dialogue is powerfully but also effortlessly accurate'Sunday Telegraph

'Theroux willingly explores the blighted territory of a failing marriage; the tangled jungle of a mad poet's secret anti-Semitism; the belated sexual guilt of a Hindu. . . a book of many and varied pleasures; to read it is to feel alert, curious, adventurous'Observer

'Paul Theroux's writing is impeccable and thoughtfully entertaining. . . his artistry is individual, serene, yet also grainy with fierce truths'The Times

'One needs energy to keep up with the extraordinary, productive restlessness of Paul Theroux. . . [He is] the most gifted, most prodigal writer of his generation' Jonathan Raban

'You close the book feeling you have read a single big narrative rather than a series of short ones. . . As a short-story writer, he makes a terrific novelist'Sunday Times

American travel writer Paul Theroux is known for the rich descriptions of people and places that is often streaked with his distinctive sense of irony; his novels and collected short stories,My Other Life,My Secret History,The Lower River,The Stranger at the Palazzo d'Oro,A Dead Hand,Millroy the Magician,The Elephanta Suite,Saint Jack,The Consul's File,The Family Arsenal,The Mosquito Coast, and his works of non-fiction, including the iconicThe Great Railway Bazaarare available from Penguin.