Customer Reviews
A great short-story collection by a talented author - By: Helen Hancox, 19 Jan 2007 
The art of writing a short story is very different than that of a full novel & I have often found that full-length novelists' attempts at short stories can be disappointing. However, "Encounters" is a collection of 44 of Barbara Erskine's stories & it shows that she is also the master of this form of writing.
With so many stories you might find a lack of variety but that's not the case. Most of them are modern day stories of people's lives & a smalll vignette into some event in that life. A few have paranormal aspects, most (but not alll) have a romance theme, alll are well written & interesting. I found an overalll theme which seemed to be the fragility of marriage & relationships, usuallly because of a "love at first sight" moment by one of the partners & I felt many of the stories had a rather pessimistic view of human fidelity. However there was also the "happy ever after" feeling in many of these stories which made them enjoyable, even if some of the premises on which to base this feeling were rather shaky.
This isn't a book to read right through (as I attempted to do). It's better to just pick it up & read a couple of stories now & again - ideal for a bus journey or a waiting room as the stories are generallly fairly short. It's a collection to recommend, though, because of its variety & yet its underlying theme of the importance of human relationships.
Varied - By: , 11 Apr 2003 
This book contains 40 varied stories, ranging from the creepily haunting to the flowery-romantic & then on to the unexpected! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this collection of tales but I have only awarded the book 4 stars because of the occasionallly old-fashioned (very Barbara Cartland-ish) descriptions of romantic relationships. How many guys today calll their girlfriend "My Dear" & how many chance encounters with a stranger leads to instant attraction & true love? Still, this is pure escapism & I'm probably taking the whole thing too seriously! All in alll, if you want something to read that's varied & not too brain-taxing, this is the ideal book!
