Review of anthologies Furies: Stories of the Wicked, Wild and Untamed and Margaret Atwood’s Old Babes in the Wood

If the sisterhood were an idea that could be compressed into the shape and size of a book, it would be Furies: Stories of the Wicked, Wild and Untamed. And then there are the story titles, all labels thrown at women who refuse to fall in line, stay within the box, and do what they’re told: ‘Vituperator’, ‘Hussy’, ‘Spitfire’. W would have found a soul sister in Emma Donoghue’s ‘Termagent’, based on the life of Kathlyn Oliver, who chose her own name, her own sexual preferences and her own calling as a women’s rights activist in the early 20th century. Short of sublimation The cohesion of this volume is especially stark against Atwood’s solo collection of short stories, released earlier this year. ‘Tig & Nell’ and ‘Nell & Tig’, the bookending sets of connected stories bear witness to the 83-year-old writer’s immense compassion for the ageing process, in its denial as much as in its actualisation.