Discover this brooding collection of short stories from one of Britain's finest writers. A world where everyday life crackles with the electricity sparking between men and women, between parents and children, between friends.

A son confesses to his mother that he is cheating on his girlfriend; a student falls in love with her lecturer and embarks on an affair with a man in the pub who looks just like him. Young mothers pent-up in childcare dream treacherously of other possibilities; a boy becomes aware of the woman, a guest at his parents' holiday home, who is pressing up too close against him on the beach.

Hidden away inside the present, the past is explosive; the future can open unexpectedly out of any chance encounter; ordinary moments are illuminated with lightning flashes of dread or pleasure. These stories about family life are somehow undomesticated and dangerous.

'She is the writer we didn't know we were waiting for, until she arrived' Anne Enright, Guardian

A remarkable collection of short stories by the author of Accidents in the Home, one of the most perceptive and entertaining writers in Britain, 'a rare and startling gem' (Guardian).

About the Author
Tessa Hadley is the author of eight highly praised novels, Accidents in the Home, which was longlisted for the Guardian First Book Award, Everything Will Be All Right, The Master Bedroom, The London Train, Clever Girl, The Past, Late in the Day, Free Love and three collections of stories, Sunstroke, Married Love and Bad Dreams. She won the Windham Campbell Prize for Fiction in 2016, The Past won the Hawthornden Prize for 2016, and Bad Dreams won the 2018 Edge Hill Short Story Prize. Her stories appear regularly in the New Yorker.

Reviews
Few writers give me such consistent pleasure -- Zadie Smith
She has such great psychological insights into human beings, which is rare. She is one of the best fiction writers writing today -- Chimamanda Ngozie Adichie
Truly absorbing... a masterful yet understated read... More please * Sunday Express *
Brilliant... Hadley's style is as discreet as good tailoring * Independent *
The stories sparkle...Hadley is fascinating for the way she admits a fantasy or a missed chance can be more significant than the actual events that shape a life * Metro *



Book Information
ISBN 9780099499251
Author Tessa Hadley
Format Paperback
Page Count 160
Imprint Vintage
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 200g
Dimensions(mm) 198mm * 129mm * 15mm