Anthony Doerr's The Shell Collector is a collection of wonderful stories, each with characters that have a mystical connection to the earth. The world these characters inhabit has an additional dimension, has a bit more depth than the mundane world, yet there is nothing outlandish about these stories. These stories make me very curious to see what Doerr will produce next, particularly what he would do with a novel. Enjoy these wonderful stories.

Anthony Doerr's collection of short stories, The Shell Collector, touches the heart in complicated, moving ways. Thes stories span the world and are told from a multiplicity of viewpoints ranging in age, sex and ethnicity while always feeling true and honest in their varied characterizations. "The Hunter's Wife" is the best example of the way most of these stories connect people with nature and through nature with each other in a circle that while often causing pain is also a means of healing. The charm of these stories is how they are seemingly simple but are actually rich and emotionally complex. "For a Long Time This Was Griselda's Story" does not intertwine the characters with nature as do the others but it is my favourite. It reverberates with a quietly building strength. A fantastic collection of stories.

Doerr's excellent collection of short stories transports us from the coast of Kenya to the Montana winter, from Liberia in West Africa to Oregon, from Tanzania to Ohio. Three of the best for this reader are the title story "The Shell Collector", "The Hunter's Wife" and "Mkondo" where the characters Doerr creates exist in natural worlds suffused with a power that is palpable. Add "The Caretaker" and you have four mesmerising stories from a very powerful creative imagination.

In "The Shell Collector", Doerr draws inspiration from the world of science. The blind collector trawls the beaches and coral reefs of Kenya, his retreat from the world, spending his time sifting through the sand granules in search of rare shell specimens, his life long study - but his private world is overturned when he happens on a cure for malaria, strangely enough from the lethal poison of a cone snail. Soon, he is overrun by relatives of the sick and other outsiders when word quickly spreads about the miracle cure. "The Hunter's Wife" has the gift of psychic commune with the spirits of earth's creatures and this poses a challenge to their life together in the harsh Montana winterscape. In "Mkondo", Doerr explores the theme of people caught between different cultures: a newly married couple from the rainforests of Tanzania and the suburbs of Oregon respectively, discover how love can first blossom - and then wither, depending on where they are: "She was learning that in her life everything - health, happiness, even love - was subject to the landscape".
"The Caretaker", a refugee from civil war in Liberia, now in Oregon, struggles to recover from the trauma of witnessing atrocities and being forced to carry out an execution.

In contrast, "4th July", recounts the comical misfortunes and escapades of American anglers involved in a fishing contest with Brits. In "For A Long Time This Was Griselda's Story", two sisters take divergent roads in life, one seeking her fortune assisting a metal eater in a travelling sideshow, the other remaining at home with their mother. "A Tangle By The Rapid River" is reminiscent of some hunting stories in Annie Proulx's "Heartsong's and other stories", an excellent collection of gritty stories set in rugged country.