This sonorous collection had me switched on from London to Singapore while all the other cattle-class travellers snoozed dopily into the wee hours. What a superb book of short stories—and one I found particularly delightful due to its absence of tricks.

The tonal similarity of the stories appealed to me. Meaning: If there is such a thing as unified style, Juan Gabriel Vásquez has it here in spades.

In his Author’s Note Vásquez quotes Tobias Wolff who says that, ‘A book of short stories should be like a novel in which the characters don’t know each other.’ Reading Vásquez I know exactly what Wolff means.

Deep imagery winds through the collection so it echoes with psychic resonances. A pheasant shot down but left to suffer in the scrub signals human ruthlessness and a faltering marriage. Gelding a horse, shooting a dog and cleaning a gun all carry eerie, and somewhat disproportionate, fictional freight.

One of my favourite stories is ‘Hiding Place’, in which a ringing telephone is, twice, a sinister presence that disturbs and devastates. As the protagonist observes, ‘Waiting for someone implies their footsteps before they arrive at the door and waiting for a letter implies the time the envelope spends in our hands before being opened, but a phone call changes the world in an instant: it’s not there, and then it is. That’s how fast things happen.’

Despite receiving the Impac prize for his novel Sound of Things Falling, Vásquez was not previously on my radar. As he is a Colombian writer, I was somewhat surprised that these were stories set in the Belgian Ardennes and shot through with hunting and adultery. My surprise turned to admiration as his mesmerising plots unfolded to reveal an intimate sensitivity, powerful lucidity and an insightful probing of the dimensions of loss and love.

These seven stories (translated by Anne McLean) offer a profound interiority that will entice readers to ponder the vagaries of the human heart. Next time you board a plane or a train reject the froth and gloss. Grab The All Saints’ Day Lovers from the bookshop and see how the world closes in; how the words lure you along; and how startled you are when the dawn breaks and you’ve landed—fresh-washed and blinking—in a shimmering new place.

The All Saints’ Day Lovers
Juan Gabriel Vásquez
Bloomsbury, $22.99