Sunday 4 December 2016

How Much the Heart Can Hold: Seven Stories on Love - Various authors



'No one has measured, not even poets, how much the heart can hold.'
Zelda Fitzgerald

Love is not a singular concept.
In this collection, seven award-winning authors explore seven concepts of love: from Philautia, self-love, to Agape, love for humanity; and from Storge, a natural affection for family, to Mania, a frenzied, obsessive love.
Seven authors; seven short stories; seven flashes of love.
The publication of How Much the Heart Can Hold is heralded by a Sceptre short story competition. The winning story, based on a concept of love, will be published in the paperback edition.

What did I think?

I'm not really a big fan of short stories but there is something so very alluring about How Much the Heart Can Hold.  Apart from Carys Bray, I am ashamed to say that I hadn't heard of any of the authors but the quality of the writing from each of them is truly excellent.  

Each form of love is clear to see within each passage and it's so very moving in places.  It would be hard to pick a favourite among them but strangely enough, I rather enjoyed the final story about love for humanity.  I think it was just so very different and it actually gave me goosebumps.  Of course having recently read The Museum of You, I think Carys Bray can do no wrong and her story of familial love was incredibly poignant.  We are a strange race indeed.

How Much the Heart Can Hold: it's love but not as you know it.  Not exactly an ideal valentine's gift but certainly an interesting examination of all forms of love.

I chose to read an ARC and this is my honest and unbiased opinion.

My rating:




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