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Blessed Assurance

Allan Gurganus

‘I sold funeral insurance to North Carolina black people.’

Blue Hunger

Viola Di Grado

‘All I wanted was to look at Xu and be looked at by Xu. Be touched by Xu. Be commanded by Xu.’

An extract from Blue Hunger by Viola Di Grado, translated by Jamie Richards.

Boathouse

Jon Fosse

‘It was this summer that the restlessness came over me.’ Translated from the Norwegian by May-Brit Akerholt.

Broken Star

Jennifer Haigh

‘I’d never heard her say an unkind word about anybody.’

Buckets of Blood

Tessa Hadley

‘I’m miscarrying a pregnancy, she said, when the spasm seemed to have passed.—It’s a fine mess.’

Buda Flaite

Paulina Flores

‘And there was our protagonist, ambling along through Reyes Park with unhurried steps, but still never losing that fixa.’

Fiction by Paulina Flores, translated by Megan McDowell.

Butt and Bhatti

Mohammad Hanif

‘Teddy is one of those people who are only articulate when they talk about cricket.’

Bye-Bye Natalia

Michel Faber

‘Natalia picks at the frayed black lace of her dress while the photograph of her American penpal loads into the computer.’

Candidate

Jessie Greengrass

‘All through winter and another summer we wait, but time passes more quickly now that we have a purpose. I feel it flowing.’

Challenger Deep

Ashley Hutson

‘The message was cheerful, positive. I did not express weakness on my son’s behalf: this is a mother’s first rule.’

City of Pigs

David Hayden

‘I have heard there is a city of pigs thirty miles from our city. I imagine it is only a farm. I cannot imagine a city of pigs.’

New fiction by David Hayden.

City of the Dead, City of the Living

Nadine Gordimer

‘While I'm ironing, he cleans the gun. I saw he needed another rag and I gave it to him.‘

Clara

Janice Galloway

‘She shifts, half in shadow. Whatever else, she's certainly a child. No one is with her.’

Cloud Seeding

Krista Foss

‘It’s not a fairy tale or a mystery. It’s a transaction.’