Vital Signs

"One of Canada's best kept literary secrets."—*Harper's Magazine*

"Hilarious, touching and delightful . . . brilliant concision and understated humor."—*Los Angeles Times*

*Vital Signs *brings together the collected novellas by a modern master of the form, by a writer who Alice Munro has said "often comes as close to the baffling comedy of human experience as a writer can get." Elegant, wry, compassionate, and mischievous, with echoes of Kingsley Amis, Evelyn Waugh, and Muriel Spark, *Vital Signs *will pierce both funny bone and heart.

The author of more than a dozen books, **John Metcalf **is one of the most celebrated writers, editors, and anthologists in Canada.