The Song of the Wren

London: Michael Joseph, 1972 (May 30).

In this collection, the second and third pieces compare in length with Bates's many novellas, while the first and fifth are light entertainments in the style of Uncle Silas tales. The three more serious stories all concern thwarted love, love triangles, and, in two of the cases, the violence that comes out of psyches twisted by love.

Maurice Wiggin, in the Sunday Times, calls Bates 'a master of deceptive simplicity, the art that hides the artifice.'

Reviews:

• Times Literary Supplement (July 21, 1972, p. 835, David F. Williams, attached)
• Daily Telegraph (June 1, 1972, p. 6, Michael Maxwell Scott, attached)
• Sunday Telegraph (May 28, 1972, p. 14, Francis King, attached)
• Sunday Times (May 28, 1972, p. 40, Maurice Wiggin, attached)

Contains: The Song of the Wren; The Dam; The Man Who Loved Squirrels; The Tiger Moth; Oh! Sweeter than the Berry. ebook edition (Bloomsbury, 2016) also contains Music for Christmas.