SOURCE: Tuck, Sherrie. Review of A Traveller's Room, by Elspeth Davie. Library Journal 110, no. 14 (1 September 1985): 212.

In the following review of A Traveller's Room, Tuck perceives Davie's fiction as modern parables in which everyday objects symbolize the fragility and uncertainty of existence.

This collection of 19 short stories [A Traveller's Room] by a British writer is marked by Davie's use of everyday objects—light bulbs, flowers, a postage stamp—as symbols for the fragility and uncertainties of life. At their best, as in the title story or in “Bones and Bouquets,” the symbols reveal an insight into character. At times, however, as in “The Gift” or “Green Head,” they remain obscure, so that the stories resemble modern parables that the reader has trouble interpreting. A few stories (“A Field in Space,” “Kiosk Encounter”) are so brief that they seem to be undeveloped sketches. However, all are informed by thoughtful observations...