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A collection of stories originally published in 1985, which explores the enclosed worlds of illusion and deception, obsession and erroneous authority.

As a novelist Graham Swift delights in the possibilities of the human voice, imagining his way into the minds and hearts of an extraordinary range of characters. In Making an Elephant, the voice is his own. As generous in its scope as it is acute in its observations, this highly personal book is a singular and open-spirited account of a writer's life. Swift brings together a richly varied selection of essays, portraits, poetry and interviews, full of insights into his passions and motivations, and wise about the friends, family and other writers who have mattered to him over the years. Kazuo Ishiguro advises on how to choose a guitar, Salman Rushdie arrives for Christmas under guard, and Ted Hughes shares the secrets of a Devon river. There are private moments, too, with long-dead writers, as well as musings on history and memory that readers of Swift's novels will recognize and love. A journey through place and time, Making an Elephant is a book of encounters, between a son and his father, between an author and his younger selves, between writer and reader, and between friends. It brims with charm and candour, and tells of alertness to experience and a true engagement with words, in short, with what it means to feel that writing and reading are an essential part of living.

The owner of the sweetshop is Willy Chapman and the book chronicles the events of a single day in his life as he goes about the same routine he has established and maintained for almost 40 years. As Willie performs the mundane tasks of opening his shop, stacking newspapers, and selling ice cream, he reminisces about his life. We see a man who has become his job by suppressing his personal desires and emotions. He functions and operates for others; his fragile wife, Helen, his selfish daughter, Dorrie, and the customers he serves. But Willie is far more than a shopkeeper. Underneath his functional, calm and bland exterior, Willie is a man who has loved and sacrificed, but above all, Willie is a man who has faithfully and doggedly done his duty.

Management Teaching use: A central theme of this text is the conflict that can arise between employees particularly when competing for the attention of the manager, or perhaps in battles over seniority when the hierarchy is in some doubt. Clearly these tensions are magnified in a small firm (and they are particularly acute in a micro enterprise). An analysis of the reasons behind these tensions would provide a good basis for debate. Issues such as staff development, the creation of clearly defined roles or simply the apparatus required to enable staff to air concerns in a secure environment are key points.

Tom Crick is a history teacher, but the history that absorbs him is his own and his family's. The past, with its secrets and oddities, hangs heavy on him, pushing him towards a new crisis. A psychological drama unfolds revealing murder, incest, guilt and insanity in the Fens of East Anglia.