‘Claire’s writing is taut yet supple, bursting with exotic images, not a single one of which seems superfluous. She’s sharp as a scalpel, and compassionate too. Instruct your bookseller to order one for you and a dozen for the shop.’
Nicholas Royle, Time Out
Inside~Outside is a powerful first collection of stories by prize-winning author Regi Claire. Intensely perceived and intensely written, they focus on predators and victims, the shunned and the damned, on people who don’t conform or no longer want to.
Whether she tells of a Scotswoman’s sinister experiences in Mauritius, a girl hitchhiker’s obsession with breaking the rules, or a female guard’s abuse of power in a women’s prison, Regi Claire presents an explosive mix of anger and liberation.
Displaying a depth of insight rare in so young a writer, these haunting stories can be placed at no disadvantage against the very best contemporary writing in Britain.
Reviews
‘sharp, intense and almost frighteningly perceptive’
Lesley Glaister, Sunday Herald
‘a vertiginous, unsettling read … A waspish wisdom is laced through the writing … this collection gives the impression of stepping into a world that may be more turbulent than the one we inhabit, but is also a richer and warmer place.’
Sian Preece, Scotland on Sunday
‘never insipid, full of imagination’
Times Literary Supplement
‘the writing is elegant and crafted … an assured and unusual voice’
James Robertson, Chapman
‘a most impressive first volume’
Douglas Gifford, Books in Scotland
‘self-assured and confident … intense and fiercely focused’
Edinburgh Review
‘unsettling and disturbing, taking you to the edge’
Scottish Book Collector
‘The true worth of these collections [Inside~Outside by Regi Claire and Nail and Other Stories by Laura Hird] is … in their ability to convey pain, suffering and destruction. Both force the reader to think, to question, to face some harsh realities and to react.’
Scottish Literary Journal Review Supplement
‘What she certainly has is the storyteller’s gift.’
Edwin Morgan
‘For once the blurb doesn’t lie. No mistake about it, [Regi Claire is] a writer. Fully-fledged and first-rate. … I read [the] book twice: a first time for the storyline, then a second fine-combing for those little felicities of style which make it so compelling to read.’
Iain Bamforth
‘Yvonne Claire [Regi Claire] won this magazine’s 1995 Short Story Competition (previously unpublished category) with “Over, All Over and Beyond”, and won decisively out of more than 100 entries. The editors were struck immediately by this writer’s sophistication and originality, and we have continued to be impressed by the consistency and range of her work – a further story appeared in ER # 97, and a third has been accepted. Yvonne [Regi] is clearly one of Scotland’s most promising young writers. Her work to date shows a willingness to experiment and an assured grasp of narrative craft and stylistic precision. Her stories are also excitingly new – challenging and haunting, but also accessible and immediate.’
Robert Alan Jamieson and Gavin Wallace, editors of Edinburgh Review
