Halflight and rain. The path of the street shines along the rim of guttering. Look up.
Sign in to Granta.com.
‘She shifts, half in shadow. Whatever else, she's certainly a child. No one is with her.’
Halflight and rain. The path of the street shines along the rim of guttering. Look up.
Sign in to Granta.com.
‘I think there should be a National Service of Hospitality. The best way to see the true face of humanity is to serve it a plate of chips.’
Camilla Grudova on bad-mannered customers.
‘Anyone who has ever worked night shifts will understand the vertiginous feeling that comes with staring down the day from the wrong end.’
A.K. Blakemore on working nights.
‘I was constantly reading job ads, trying to find my holy grail – a job I could stand to do, and someone foolish enough to hire me.’
Sandra Newman on learning how to play professional blackjack.
‘I loved being a receptionist. What I loved about it was playing the part of being a receptionist.’
Emily Berry on being a temporary office worker.
‘Every part of you would swell, including your eyeballs, and no matter how much water you drank, you were always dehydrated.’
Junot Díaz on working for a steel mill.
Janice Galloway is a award-winning author of short stories, novels and memoir. Her novel The Trick is to Keep Breathing was winner of the MIND Book of the Year Award; Foreign Parts was winner of the McVitie's Prize, and Clara was winner of the E.M. Forster Award, the Creative Scotland Award, and the Saltire Book of the Year Award. She is also the author of two memoirs This is Not About Me, winner of the SMIT Non-Fiction Book of the Year, and All Made Up. Her latest book, Jellyfish, was published in 2019. She has written and presented three radio series for BBC Scotland and has collaborated with musicians and visual artists. She lives and works in Lanarkshire, Scotland.
More about the author →‘I admit the sneaking feeling, just now and then, that those who govern us think we’re the problem.’
‘Sex Education, like winning the pools, was something that did not happen to us.’
A story by Annie Perreault, translated from the French by Rhonda Mullins, for the online edition of Granta 141: Canada.
Granta magazine is run by the Granta Trust (charity number 1184638)
The copyright to all contents of this site is held either by Granta or by the individual authors, and none of the material may be used elsewhere without written permission. For reprint enquiries, contact us.