A collection of short stories, mostly about love triumphing over everything. There’s delightful writing and humor throughout, as well as many elements present in her full-length romance novels. Recommended for fans of the author. ( )

A couple stories that weren't my speed, but overall, utterly fabulous. ( )

A Glove Shop in Vienna contains 18 short stories by Eva Ibbotson and they are all (or nearly all) unmistakably and intensely Ibbotson-ish: Vienna, London, Russia; the first half of the 20th century, with its world wars; grand passions; families at Christmas; characters devoted to the arts or sciences; young women who go around befriending everyone...

On the whole, these stories are charming and vivid. Some of them are surprising, and some of them are happily predictable, and one or two are sad. (And some required a certain suspension of disbelief, because I don't believe in love-at-first-sight the way Ibbotson writes it.)

As is the case with most short story collections - some of these stories I really liked, and some I didn't mind, and a few I really didn't care for.

My favourites:
"Vicky and the Christmas Angel", about a nine year old living in Vienna who discovers the truth about the Christmas tree.

"Sidi", about a girl whose governess devises a new route for Sidi's train journeys between her parents, and who befriends a stationmaster's son.

"Theatre Street": It had begun many years earlier, in a now vanished world. On the fifteenth of April 1912, to be exact, with the visit of a young English officer, Captain Alex Hamilton, to the Imperial Ballet School in St Petersburg.

"This Year's Winner", about a doctor's daughter who goes to London to represent the Toto islands in a Miss Galaxy competition, and befriends many of her competitors.

"Osmadine", about a drama student who wanders into a chemist's shop and finds alternative solutions to people's problems.

"With Love and Swamp Noises", about the new director of a museum threatened with closure. The assistant curator has a habit of befriending people who are sad or in trouble and finding jobs for them to do.

But the pinnacle of this collection for me was "The Magi of Markham Street", about a primary school teacher whose class is putting on a nativity play. This one delighted me the most. It's humorous in a way that some of the stories are not, and I could really identify with it - which meant it seemed so much more real. ( )

The first story I read from this collection was "A Question of Riches," which was reprinted in The Persephone Biannually, No. 8 Autumn/Winter 2010-2011. I read it on Black Friday when, after I misread an ad to read that a shop was giving out gift cards to the first 100 customers (it actually said that they would give out a $5 off coupon and a chance to win a gift card), I was thwarted by Meijer's unwillingness to sell champagne before 6:30 am. I returned from my first and only Black Friday expedition completely empty-handed but too wired to sleep. So, I picked up the Persephone catalog I'd been meaning to read.

To my delight, there was a charming short story about a little boy and his relationship with his two grandmothers. Even though it was 5 am, I fell in love with the story and wanted more. I was thrilled to find that Eva Ibbotson had written a short story collection containing this book.

Which, by the way, I need. To the birthday list! ( )