Rebecca Kate Hahn: Side-Stepping Normativity in Selected Short Stories by Sylvia Townsend Warner (Challenges for the Humanities, 4). Tübingen: Narr, Francke, Attempto, 2020. Pp. 208.

• Peter Swaab

Rebecca Hahn’s book on Warner, remarkably, is the first monograph on the writings of this prolific, brilliant and underrated English author. Moreover, Warner’s short stories are a neglected area within a neglected oeuvre; her novels have had much more critical attention than her short fiction. Side-Stepping Normativity, then, is a strikingly original and fresh publication. For those who don’t know Warner’s stories Hahn’s book will be an excellent critical introduction, while existing readers will find fresh and insightful readings into a dozen stories. Taken together they give a persuasive account of the impressiveness and scope of Warner’s achievements in this form. The book opens up many avenues for discussion and will be of considerable value to future study of Warner.