Cardiff, by the Sea (Oates novellas)
| Industry | Publishing |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | New York , United States |
| Products | Books |
Cardiff, by the Sea: Four Novellas of Suspense is a 2020 anthology of short narratives authored by Joyce Carol Oates, released through The Mysterious Press.
The novella titled "Phantomwise: 1972" appeared in the 2018 edition of The Best American Mystery Stories, and "The Surviving Child" received the The Year's Best Fantasy and Horror accolade in 2020.
Novellas
Details of initial publication venues and dates:
- "Cardiff, by the Sea" (Ellery Queen, March 1, 2020)
- "Miao Dao" (Amazon Original Stories, December 27, 2018)
- "Phantomwise: 1972" (Ellery Queen, 2017)
- "The Surviving Child" (Echoes: The Saga Anthology of Ghost Stories, August 20, 2019)
Reception
The collection was described by Publishers Weekly as an "enchanting" fusion of psychological intrigue and supernatural elements, labeling it a "remarkable release" poised to engage its audience.
Elena Hartwell, writing for the New York Review of Books, emphasized Oates’s distinctive narrative style in delving into the mental landscapes of victims, inviting readers to embrace a suspension of disbelief to reveal deeper societal insights.
In the LARB, critic Rob Latham observed that although some of Oates's suspense works carry a gritty noir atmosphere, these novellas exhibit a more somber tone akin to Daphne du Maurier, while cautioning that abrupt bursts of violence occur with intensity comparable to graphic horror films.
Sources
- Hartwell, Elena. 2020. "Review: Cardiff, by the Sea: Four Novellas of Suspense." New York Review of Books. October 8, 2020.
- Latham, Rob. 2021. "The Ineluctable Agon of Desire: Joyce Carol Oates's Suspense Fiction." Los Angeles Review of Books, January 8, 2021.
- Oates, Joyce Carol. 2020. Cardiff, by the Sea: Four Novellas of Suspense. The Mysterious Press, New York.