‘Now I understand the meaning of — it just happened. Or — it was an accident.’
Was there ever a time you thought — I am doing this on purpose, I am fucking up and I don’t know why?
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‘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.
‘As the brightness increases, the sky flushes with pink and red hues somewhere between birth and Armageddon.’
An excerpt from A.M. Homes’ new novel.
Read the title story from AM Homes' dazzling new collection of short stories, Days of Awe, available now from Granta Books.
‘Even for those of us who feel we have integrated our history, there can be fragments, like shrapnel, that push to the surface without warning.’
‘Blow the candle out, taste the darkness and come back changed.’
Wendy Mitchell, who has been living with dementia since 2014, discusses the process of writing her memoir with her ghostwriter, Anna Wharton.
