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A Play on Mothering

David Rakoff

‘His hands are a jewel box and I lean forward and peer in.’

A Visit to the Zoo

Colm Tóibín

‘The two chameleons in a glass case appeared to interest all of them, Heinrich thought, because of their beauty and their stillness. They looked like a pale painting.’

All We Shall Know

Donal Ryan

‘Thoughts sharpen themselves on the flints of one another and pierce me like a knife in my middle, sunk deep and twisted around.’

Cat

Katy Simpson Smith

‘I didn’t dream because I had no memories.’

Do Not Say We Have Nothing

Madeleine Thien

‘In a single year, my father left us twice.’

Eel

Stefanie Seddon

‘The eel I saw was the one lying deep and quiet and alone in his coppery pool in the bush.’ 2016 Commonwealth Short Story Prize – regional winner for Europe and Canada.

First Love

Gwendoline Riley

‘It must be a dreadful cross: this hot desire to join in with people who don’t want you.’

Her Boy

Mika Taylor

‘She is the first dolphin mother, Peter her boy genius.’

Idioglossia

Eimear Ryan

‘There is no face more familiar than one’s own.’

Last Day on Earth

Eric Puchner

‘Despite my efforts at denial the new reality of our lives was beginning to sink in.’

Memoirs of a Polar Bear

Yoko Tawada

‘I was perfectly content with my new life until I began to write my autobiography.’

Mr Salary

Sally Rooney

‘My love for him felt so total and so annihilating that it was often impossible for me to see him clearly at all.’

My Angel

Adam Thorpe

‘I am full of unreal desires and worthless imaginings.’

The Conveyor Belt

Louise Stern

‘Tall men that looked like insects crept out of cracks in the stones.’