''Pond'' is a collection of 20 short stories written by

Claire-Louise Bennett Claire-Louise Bennett is a British writer, living in Galway in Ireland. She has written ''Pond'' (2015), which was shortlisted for the Dylan Thomas Prize; and ''Checkout 19'' (2021), which was shortlisted for the Goldsmiths Prize. Biography Benne ...

, originally published by

The Stinging Fly Press ''The Stinging Fly'' is a literary magazine published in Ireland, featuring short stories, essays, and poetry. It publishes two issues each year. In 2005, ''The Stinging Fly'' moved into book publishing with the establishment of The Stinging Fl ...

in Ireland on 10 May 2015 (). The stories are written from the perspective of an unnamed woman and lives a solitary existence on the outskirts of a small coastal village. It focuses on the details of her daily experience, from the best way to eat

porridge Porridge is a food made by heating or boiling ground, crushed or chopped starchy plants, typically grain, in milk or water. It is often cooked or served with added flavourings such as sugar, honey, (dried) fruit or syrup to make a sweet cereal, ...

to an encounter with a cow to the ending of an affair. The shortest story in ''Pond'' runs to only a couple of sentences.

Reception

''Pond'' was well received in both the UK and the US, and was featured in both ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' and ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' in 2016.

Stories

References

2015 short story collections British short story collections Literature by women {{2010s-story-collection-stub