‘She acted as if her own desires magnetized the world, and when you were close to her, she magnetized your moral compass too.’
The outbuildings of his father’s farm looked stable enough to me, but then he gunned the engine and I had to grab hard at the rails beneath my seat as the speed pushed us back, and we lurched forwards, then down to the left. A brief glimpse of tarmac rushed past, and I clung on as the bike rocked …
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.
‘I asked where the path was to the rapids. He looked at me as if all his suspicions had been confirmed.’
‘What I needed was to gaze into the surface, and, by gazing, to pass into another world, and breathe.’
‘I’d had quite enough of everything. I vowed to no longer mistake obedience for love.’
Fiction by Catherine Lacey.
‘Every time I tried to write more, it turned out to be a fruitless endeavor – I felt like I was trapped in a sealed room with no windows.’
Fiction by Yu Hua, translated by Michael Berry.
‘I would peel wrappers off sandwiches, remove noodles from their boxes, fry up meat before any authorities had the chance to track me and my bounty down.’
