Concerning the Future of Souls: Ninety-Nine Stories of Azrael

(Paperback, Main)

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Description

Joy Williams offers ninety-nine illuminations on mortality as she brings her powers of observation to Azrael, the Angel of Death and transporter of souls.

Balancing the extraordinary and the humble, the bizarre and the beatific, the book presents Azrael as a thoughtful and troubled protagonist as he confronts the holy impossibility of his task, his uneasy relationship with Death and his friendship with the Devil. In this follow-up to Williams' 99 Stories of God, a collection of connected beings - ranging from ordinary people to great artists such as Kafka, Nietzche, Bach and Rilke to dogs, birds, horses and butterflies - experience the varying fate of the soul, transient yet everlasting.

Profound, sorrowful, witty and ecstatic, Concerning the Future of Souls will leave readers awestruck in their confrontation of life in the face of death.

Reviews

'Praise for Joy Williams' - :

'Joy Williams is simply a wonder' - Raymond Carver

'One of the great writers of her generation' - The New York Times

'Brilliant and inspiring. Anyone new to her has a treat in store' - Times

'Among the strangest, most exciting authors at work today' - Daily Mail

Author Bio

Joy Williams is the author of five novels and four short story collections. Among her many honours are a National Book Critics Circle Award, the Kirkus Prize for Fiction, the Paris Review's Hadada Award as well as nominations for the Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award.