Hall is one of those writers so good that I pick up their books to read, without question. ( )

So enamored with her writing. Every book I read is so different, but there's an underlying voice that's all her. Some excellent reviews at the top of this list; I have nothing to add to them. ( )

Unlike some people I know, I’m not a fan of Hall’s writing – but then, her writing is very tied to her region – Cumbria – so much so that many of the stories in this collection are written in local dialect, or use local dialect terms. They’re good stories, they’re polished stories. There are seven of them in The Beautiful Indifference, some of which are set in Cumbria, one of which is set in Finland. They’re worth reading, although fans of her writing will get more from them than I did. I found this book in a charity shop, and I’ll continue to keep an eye open for her works, but I do find her prose a bit too much in your face for my taste. I like my fiction distant and bolstered by fact, and I find it hard to accept a facility with local dialect as a substitute for fact. Or rather, I appreciate fiction that includes elements which can be looked up on Wikipedia, and while Hall’s use of Cumbrian dialect is, as far as I know, accurate, it adds only a thin wash of colour to the stories, where a reference to a real event or thing defined in Wikipedia would add depth. But that’s a personal thing. Certainly, Hall is a good writer, and these are some polished pieces of work. Worth reading. ( )

This is such a beautiful collection of stories, with such vivid detail and character. I would definitely recommend, even though a few stories ended without answering big questions. Love and death seem to be the big connecting themes. ( )

I loved this book. As with most short story books some sections I feel worked better than others and the ideas were better excecuted. I likes her style of writing. It was what was left unsaid in alot ofthe time that worked the most. ( )