Call If You Need Me

Raymond Carver has done what many of the most gifted writers fail to do, he has invented a country of his own – Michael Wood * New York Times *
The prose is a prayer book of simple words, unsentimental. Carver’s gleam – Tom Adair * Scotsman *
Carver the writer is still the hero of this story, as this ‘last of the last’ abundantly proves – Bharart Tandon * Times Literary Supplement *
In Call If You Need Me, generosity and fidelity to his characters shine from every page… In his style, Carver may have affinities with Hemingway, but his portrayal of relationships between men and women is deeper and more nuanced than anything the old bullfighter ever committed to print – Toby Mundy * New Statesman *

Raymond Carver was born in Clatskanie, Oregon, in 1938. His father was a saw-mill worker and his mother was a waitress and clerk. He married early and for years writing had to come second to earning a living for his young family. Despite small-press publication, it was not until Will You Please Be Quiet Please? appeared in 1976 that his work began to reach a wider audience. This was the year in which he gave up alcohol, which had contributed to the collapse of his marriage. In 1977 he met the writer Tess Gallagher, with whom he shared the last eleven years of his life. During this prolific period he wrote three collections of stories, What We Talk About When We Talk About Love, Cathedral and Elephant. Fires, a collection of essays, poems and stories, appeared in 1985, followed by three further collections of poetry. In 1988 he completed the poetry collection A New Path to the Waterfall.

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