The Umpteenth Crossing

Synopsis

The Umpteenth Crossing gives itself away and hides its own secrets at the same time. It’s a chapbook – a slightly arcane term in British idiom for a compendium of tales and ballads told and sold by travellers, salesmen and chapmen. In American parlance, a chapbook is more commonly understood as a writer’s compendium, a collection and collation of stories, prose and poetry.

This collection of short prose and poetry from London-based American Mary Thurlow elegantly straddles cultural and linguistic divides. As its title work perfectly demonstrates, George Bernard Shaw didn’t have it all his own way: the British and the Americans are in truth united by our common language.