Red! Why red? It reminds me of danger, stop signs and post boxes. My biggest problem with red may have been the fact I was the only one in the school not in red. I moved around counties, towns and schools so often I suppose it made sense to have one uniform that ‘sort Read More
You say you loved me long before the draw. Not that it matters, but I’m sure you did – You fed your pleas to Hydra’s lantern jaw, and softly cried beneath this sleepless lid. Meanwhile my own resistance left the stage. My genuflected smile declared our peace – A stone-cold fear lurked on Read More
“We can’t just leave you on your own Mrs Harris,” the middle-aged policewoman said, pulling what she probably thought was her most genuine looking empathetic face, maintaining eye contact and smiling constantly, but being careful to make sure her smile was not too happy. Paula hated her. “We have a duty of care, you Read More
Monday 16 April Tonight was the first and last date with Geoff. 43 solid minutes I listened to him droning on at one point. I texted Jules at 7:01 telling her he’d just started talking about mushrooms and at 7:44 he was still going. Who knew there was so much to learn? Apparently, he recently Read More
We left the train station and turned right, towards the river Tilt. Close to the track we found a shop and a public toilet, for one last stop before heading up the valley. Mark bought an apple and a block of chocolate. I found an off-brand sports drink in the fridge and gulped it all. Read More
Gabriel Josipovici’s The Cemetery in Barnes (2018) is a very short novel, with the story spread across a mere one hundred pages. However, this is a novel of burning intensity that leaves the reader in a constant state of uncertainty with plotline that jumps between different phases in the protagonist’s, an unnamed translator, life. These Read More
Guy Gunaratne is recognised for his work as a video artist, filmmaker, video journalist and some writing. In Our Mad and Furious City, however, is his debut novel which has garnered a lot of buzz, having already been long-listed for the Booker and short-listed for the Goldsmith and Gordon Burn prizes. Set in London, Gunaratne’s Read More
Crudo, Olivia Laing’s first novel, is performance. Laing dons the mask of radical, experimentalist Kathy Acker, in a performance of experimental writing, and in text, her main character Kathy tries to resolve her commitment issues through the performance of marriage. Laing, a non-fiction writer, steps into the guise of Acker to bring a manic and Read More
Faye, a middle-aged novelist, travels to a literary festival in an unnamed southern European city. On the plane she sits next to a man who recounts a story about his family and the trauma of burying the pet dog. Faye observes that he spoke: as if he had discovered the power and pleasure of reliving Read More
Chris Arthur’s latest essay collection is unmistakably about hummingbirds. However, this innocuous fact is far more revealing than one might expect. Arthur’s hummingbirds are varied; sometimes they are avian, but they are also objects, words, creatures and people. To be a hummingbird is to capture the attention of the beholder and in doing so, challenge Read More