Students and journalists, farmers and birdwatchers, ex-wives, adolescent lovers - and dancing girls. All ordinary people - or are they? In this splendid collection of short stories, Margaret Atwood maps the human motivation we scarcely know we have in a startlingly original voice, full of rare intensity and exceptional intelligence.

With brilliant flashes of fantasy, humour and unexpected violence, these stories reveal the complexities of human relationships and bring to life characters who evoke laughter, compassion, terror and recognition and dramatically demonstrate why Atwood is one of the most important writers in English today.

Dancing Girls is Margaret Atwood’s highly praised first collection of short fiction. In it she explores the dark intricacies of the mind, the complexities of human relationships, and the clashes between cultures. In the stories, the mundane and the bizarre intersect in unexpected ways: ex-wives indulge in an odd feast at a psychiatrist’s funeral; a young student is pursued by an obsessed immigrant; an old woman stores up supplies against an impending cataclysm. The fourteen stories range in setting from Canada to England, from Mexico to the United States, and portray characters who touch us and arouse in us compassion and understanding. In this astonishing collection, Margaret Atwood maps human motivation we scarcely know we have.