A review by abbie_
Wish I Was Here by Jackie Kay

emotional funny sad medium-paced

4.25

A moving collection centring (usually) middle-aged queer stories that I loved in June! I read and loved Jackie Kay’s Trumpet back in 2020, but since I collect most of my books secondhand, it’s taken an age to find more Kay out in the wild! Very glad to have this and another of her collections (Reality, Reality) in my hands now, as this collection delivered gem after gem for me.

My favourite type of short story collections are those that can make a 20 page story feel like a fully fleshed novel. I felt in sure hands with Jackie Kay, each story was perfectly formed and I felt immense satisfaction at the end of most. Kay explores similar themes without the stories feeling stale or repetitive - relationships reaching a stalemate or crossroads, letting go, finding your feet after the end of a long relationship. It sounds like there should be a lot of melancholy in these pages, and there is some, but there’s also a degree of lightness to them through well placed humour.

I want to mention so many of the stories, they all had something to offer! You Go When You Can No Longer Stay covers menopause, the lesbian ‘urge to merge’ and stability turned to stagnation. Blinds, which focuses on a woman setting up her own house after splitting from her wife, experiencing a brief moment of connection with the man who comes to measure her blinds. I really liked the way this one shows the mundane side of heartbreak - sorting through the detritus of a life cleaved in two. Pruning, a tale about jealousy and passion - funny yet sad and all too real. And omg the last story, The Mirrored Twins, near broke my heart and moved me to tears!

I highly recommend this collection if you like your short stories on the longer side, especially as it highlights slightly older queer narratives 🏳️‍🌈