SOURCE: Bemrose, John. “Exile in the Spotlight: Honoring a Master of the Modern Short Story.” Maclean's 106, no. 42 (18 October 1993): 66.

In the following review, Bemrose evaluates the strengths of Across the Bridge within the context of Gallant's career.

There is something about Mavis Gallant that embodies the timeless appeal of her finest short stories. The Montreal-born, Paris-based author is 71, but might easily pass for 10 or 15 years younger. Her handsome face has a startling clarity, and her eyes, which seem to subtly change color as she talks, radiate enthusiasm and intelligence. Even her voice is youthful. Touched with the old-fashioned accents of the Anglo Montreal that she left more than 40 years ago, it summoned up lost eras as she talked in a Toronto interview about her latest collection, Across the Bridge. Her favorite story in it is “The Fenton Child,” which is set in Montreal in the 1940s. “When I was...