(#35 in the 2009 book challenge)
Short stories about the characters from The Crimson Petal and the White, some which take place prior to the events of that book, and some after. We shall take the high quality of Faber's writing as a given, and beyond that, I had a mixed reaction. I was a little more intrigued with the stories of things that happened before, for the most part. Finding out, even remotely, what happened after made things feel too pat. And a lot of the happenings are things you might have guessed anyway, so it wasn't even as if there were any huge surprises. And the very first story in the collection reads like A Very Special Crimson Petal, which struck me as an odd choice. That's probably an unfair criticism, poor Michel Faber likely doesn't know what "A Very Special ..." is in the first place.

Grade: B+
Recommended: I think people who enjoyed The Crimson Petal and the White should consider this very carefully before reading: it is good, but it caps the story.

I felt really let down by this, probably because I loved The Crimson Petal and the White so much. ( )

I admit i have an addiction to novels set in the Victorian Era hence my love of Michel Faber's Crimson Petal & the White and now The Apple. As soon as i opened my little hardback version and started to read i knew i would be sat stationary for the next few days immersed in more stories about Sugar and her contemporaries. I was right, i don't think i even set the book down once until i'd finished the entire thing, i probably forgot to breathe at times, i was enjoying it so much! The unfortunate thing is there hasn't been another set of stories for me to read since, i literally cannot wait for another set to arrive in my recommended list on amazon.
If you're not sure about buying this book i would say do it! That way you can read a little book of short stories and once you enjoy it you still have the massive Crimson Petal and the White to move onto. ( )

The Crimson Petal and the White was one of my favourite books of recent years - certainly the most beautifully written, and this book is a collection of short stories about the characters, set both before, and after, Crimson Petal.

Again, the writing is simply wonderful, but I guess you really have to have read Crimson Petal for them to make much sense.

Pretty much the only thing wrong with this book is its length. It very short, and will be read in a couple of hours. I want more!

I guess my only concern is whether it's better to actually be left to imagine what may have happened to the characters? Does it put too much closure by finding out more? Probably not, as Faber only hints at events.

If you haven't read Crimson Petal, read that first, and you'll probably not be able to resist picking this up afterwards. ( )

Loved it! ( )