Four Bare Legs in a Bed

Library Journal

The women in this first collection of stories are tough and true to life; they are equally savage to one another as they are to their men, who often have them locked in nasty relationships. The best stories in this vein--``Give Me Daughters Any Day,'' ``What Are Neighbors For,'' and ``An Interesting Condition''--concern closed circles of women who neatly mow each other down, sometimes for the sheer sport of it. Peppered with arresting juxtapositions and similes, Simpson's slick and funny prose brings a new perspective to age-old problems such as poor body image, the pains of childbirth, and failed love affairs. Through her deft caricatures, Simpson also gives us an amusing view of working-class Britain. For large fiction collections.-- Rita Ciresi, Pennsylvania State Univ., University Park