Tales from the Mall

Fashion, food courts, lingerie, fire bombing, suicide, free parking—welcome to the mall.  Winner of the Guardian's Not the Booker Prize and Glenfiddich Writer of the Year.

Why would one woman threaten to kill another for a pair of discounted shoes? Why are cross-dressers drawn to mall car parks? What do impulse buys have to do with rioting? How are some malls "vampiric" while others are "pregnant?" And why are market research companies hiding the truth from us?  A mash-up of fiction, essays and true stories, this collection tells of the rise of the most iconic symbol of our modern age: the shopping mall. From more than 100 interviews and confessions, Ewan Morrison re-tells the true-life tales of those who work, shop, and even find love inside their walls. With wry wit, insight, and compassion, he reveals how malls manipulate our emotions, how they are an ideal space to meet a new lover or to kill yourself, and how they are taking over the world. As shopping malls spread round the globe at the amazing speed of one new mall every 72 hours, and everyone, in every country ends up wearing the same fashions, Tales from the Mall gives us a page-turning tour of the history of the mall and a vision of our coming future. Packed full of terribly tweetable facts and gut wrenching, sometimes hilarious stories; this book will change the way you think about your hair color, your loyalty cards, the global economy, and your boyfriend or girlfriend—forever.