Diane Williams

Diane Williams’s most recent book is I Hear You’re Rich.

Story: ‘For Those Who Have Been Charmed’

Diane Williams, 5 February 2026

Good luck itself has a releasing effect on the spine, she was surprised to discover.

She counted on some extra good luck and would try to feel kindred with the hunched figures advising her.

He was there. Miles Macbeth.

It was a cold room, and the staircase that funnelled people towards it was composed of nervous-making alternating treads of black and white marble.

As she marched – the...

Story: ‘Mango’

Diane Williams, 23 October 2025

He was holding up his shoe, inspecting the sole of it, and barely balancing on one leg, when I first saw him.

I had asked him about the shoes – and he said any sort would do – that it was like a walk in the park, but there was an area where it was rocky.

So, it was a perfect day for a climb with Crispin and Ivy – a couple of people I had gotten to know, and I had time to kill...

The short time they have been together, they have shared sex, the house and garden! – food and drink! – what some would consider freedom! – although this is probably the last time he will visit.

He can leave, of course.

Several rooms of her house have small windows, too small for anybody to climb out of.

As for the garden – yes, there can be golden flecks in it –...

His spaniel was up on its hind legs, paws on his master’s belly, where my paws happily had lately been.

He was my host, and I ate his food, while others there were still at it, too, and the plate set in front of me gave off a hopeful fragrance.

This man, not seated at the table – my host – stood cross-legged next to it, while balancing himself against a dining chair.

No, I was...

Two Stories

Diane Williams, 1 August 2024

Devotional

‘Thank god you don’t hold a grudge,’ he said, and I discovered a refreshing feeling in the room Seth Sharples and I decided to share.

He is an inamorato from years ago.

Of course, this feeling vanished as soon as I left that town.

At the airport ticket counter for my return, the fake eyelashes of the clerk nearly jammed themselves against her eyeglass lenses with her...

Molasses Nog: Diane Williams

Ange Mlinko, 18 April 2019

Rushing​ out of the house for an appointment, I grabbed what I thought was Diane Williams’s Collected Stories. When I retrieved the book from my bag, I was surprised to find it was...

Read more reviews

Read anywhere with the London Review of Books app, available now from the App Store for Apple devices, Google Play for Android devices and Amazon for your Kindle Fire.

Sign up to our newsletter

For highlights from the latest issue, our archive and the blog, as well as news, events and exclusive promotions.

Newsletter Preferences