A CERTAIN AGE: TWELVE MONOLOGUES FROM THE CLASSIC RADIO SERIES

Lynne Truss (Profile Books, £12.99)

Lynne Truss is best known for her best-selling book about punctuation, Eats, Shoots And Leaves, but she is garnering a reputation as a fiction writer and a scriptwriter - is there no end to this woman's talents?

It is this latter skill which is displayed to the full in A Certain Age, a collection of 12 monologues, taken from a BBC Radio 4 series of the same name.

In the introduction to her book, she pays tribute to Alan Bennett's Talking Heads series. I can see the connection, because if you loved that, then you are sure to enjoy A Certain Age.

I am not generally a great fan of the short story, but this selection is written in a way that really talks to the reader.

While marvelling at some of the twists and turns, my greatest enjoyment was imagining the voice of the character in my head, then skipping to the back index to discover which actor or actress really did take the part in the broadcast version.

I found a few of the plots a little too contrived and transparent, but others are fine examples of the art of the monologue. My favourite was The Husband, a character who appears put-upon and rather downtrodden while lying in his lonely hospital bed, until a neat turn of events sends that assumption straight out of the window.

The Cat Lover is another excellent read, and Dawn French, who played the part on radio, must have been perfect for the role.

Lynne Truss will be at the Oxford Literary Festival on Thursday, March 22.

Sandra Dyson