"The Luncheon," by Christopher Fowler, in Playing Dead, edited by Martin Edwards, Severn House, 2025.
Something the English do better than us Yanks: portrayals of oh-so-sophisticated folks being oh-so-genteelly nasty to each other.
Amanda and Madeline are meeting for lunch for the first time in three years. The obvious question is why are they meeting at all since they obviously despise each other.
Madeline owns a cosmetics company. She fired Amanda who sued for wrongful dismissal and won a lot of money and used it to start her own company. Madeline, in fine twisted form, says that means "I was able to give you the opportunity to get started."
Amanda is plotting revenge. Madeline has a counter-strategy. I won't go into detail here but it is a treat to watch these two masters sparring.
No comments:
Post a Comment