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Blue Jay

Lillian Li

‘Like romantic love, you can’t ever replicate your first best-friendship.’

And Yet

Brian Evenson

‘She had waited expectantly for him to tell her a story to illustrate this, and to explain what those values were, but as with so many other things he had left it at that. It lingered in the air, waiting for her to pluck it up, but she had simply let it hang.’

One More Last Stand

Callan Wink

‘It’s funny to think that we existed, us together, before either of our marriages.’

The Quality of the Affection

Lloyd Lynford

‘What thou lovest well cannot be reft from thee. But maybe Ezra was mistaken, maybe it can be reft, but maybe that was her fault.’

Don’t Fall in Love

Mohsin Hamid

‘She does not stare at you, but when your eyes meet, she does not look away.’

A Brief History of Fire

Jennifer Vanderbes

‘My happiness was so deep I was afraid to speak of it.’

Safety Catch

Lauren Wilkinson

Nothing dies because you can’t destroy energy.’

Abingdon Square

André Aciman

‘Your problem is not that you misread signs; it’s that you see them everywhere.’

Paddleball

Colin Robinson

‘My brother and I can’t help but stand out in such a gritty locale.’

The Loyalty Protocol

Ben Marcus

‘The tally, indeed, on that particular activity, in that particular location – or, in fact, on any couch ever – was, indeed, zero.’

The New Veterans

Karen Russell

‘Pain unwound itself under her palms‘

Man Crossing Bridges

Ronaldo Correia de Brito

‘He prefers the battles of the bed, but his wife insists on his keeping to a severe containment.’

Dreams of a Leisure Society

Adam Foulds

‘They were citizens of a multidimensional universe and they liked to get high.’

Clough

Jon McGregor

‘She probably thinks this is all a game. There’s time yet.’