Reviews

One of the best short story collections I've read! As someone who grew up in East Belfast I thought that each story was so keenly observed and felt very Belfast. Wendy Erskine managed to capture an air of tension through many of the stories in this collection, whilst also often showcasing the humour that reminds me of home. I would highly recommend to anyone looking for their next collection of short stories to dig into.

rcampbell's review

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challenging reflective tense

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated

4.5

admacg's review against another edition

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5.0

One of the best collections of short stories I've read in a while, all the better for being set in Belfast. The characters had strong, authentic, local voices, living real lives. There's an undercurrent of loneliness to some of these stories ('Inakeen' 'lady and dog'), sometimes regret, and the sense that lives had taken a turn from which people hadn't fully recovered, leaving them slightly broken, but that they were just getting on with things, best they could. There are glimpses of the troubles, and some of the characters had a quiet menace to them, like Kyle from the superior opener 'to all their dues', and there is a rich seam of black humour through - green pastilles made me laugh.

Best of the lot for me was 'sweet home', it was just the creeping tension throughout, just felt like it wasn't going to end well. Though it's hard to choose as I found 'Last supper' funny and oddly moving and I liked the quiet assertiveness in 'Locksmiths.' The author writes about these people and their lives with a real honesty and the dialogue was just so sharp and rhythmical throughout, having lived in Belfast I felt I could be eavesdropping on some of these conversations in a wee cafe somewhere in the east of the city. Sad to finish this, looking forward to more from this author.