"One of Canada's best kept literary secrets."-Harper's Magazine

"Hilarious, touching and delightful . . . brilliant concision and understated humor."-Los Angeles Times

Vital Signs brings together the collected novellas by a modern master of the form, by a writer who Alice Munro has said "often comes as close to the baffling comedy of human experience as a writer can get." Elegant, wry, compassionate, and mischievous, with echoes of Kingsley Amis, Evelyn Waugh, and Muriel Spark, Vital Signs will pierce both funny bone and heart.

The author of more than a dozen books, John Metcalf is one of the most celebrated writers, editors, and anthologists in Canada.