In the long introduction to The General's Wife, Peter Straub cheerfully acknowledges that the premise was derived from a Carlos Fuentes novella entitled Aura. I haven't read that piece, so I'm unable to make a comparison, but I can assure Straub fans that this little book delivers the goods. It's a vignette subtracted from Straub's already gargantuan novel Floating Dragon (and Andy, its central character, is essentially Patsy from that book, right down to the abusive husband), but The General's Wife is a polished exercise in narrative restraint. Straub would later produce three volumes of short fiction, but said that the only way he could write stories during this phase of his career was within the novels themselves...and this one works beautifully.

Andy's hateful, bullying husband is transferred to London for work, but despises the city and rarely wants to go out. Tentatively exploring London on her own, Andy answers a want ad placed by a former Army general whose career was marred by some scandal which is never quite specified. The old gentleman is compiling his memoirs and needs a transcriptionist; not surprisingly, Andy encounters the horrific and, ultimately, the inexplicable in the general's dank, sparsely furnished home. A noticeable antecedent to Straub's later masterpiece Mrs. God, this novella marks the first overt appearance of Robert Aickman's influence in the Straub oeuvre. It actually bears a much greater resemblance to Mrs. God than to Floating Dragon, but is perfectly, elegantly self-contained. In fact, no prior knowledge of any of Straub's work is required to enjoy The General's Wife (though, unless you're a fan and a collector, you're probably not going to shell out forty of fifty bucks for this).

1200 copies, each signed by Straub and illustrator Thomas Canty. My copy is #145. ( )