With 2023 coming to a close, we have collected together our top ten fiction pieces from the year.
Nothing Special | Nicole Flattery
‘There was very little I could do in life except get dressed, smoke the correct cigarettes.’
An extract from Nothing Special by Nicole Flattery.
‘He’ll be a goner soon; the cops will find him hanging in his loo.’
Fiction by Alison Rumfitt.
Doubtful Sound | Eleanor Catton
‘I knew that Dominic had cheated on me. I couldn’t tell you when, or who, or how many times, but I was certain that he had.’
Fiction by Eleanor Catton.
‘When I looked back, I felt a jolt – some forgotten, tearful part of me becoming magnified. Why would you stay with a person wielding a broom or an axe?’
New fiction from Lucie Elven.
‘He is an ancestor, he has had his son, he has lost possession of the world.’
Fiction by Allen Bratton.
A Dying Tongue | Sarah Bernstein
‘What needs explaining was that, and it was a funny thing, a very funny thing, I did not speak the language.’
An extract from Study for Obedience by Sarah Bernstein.
The Tupperware Party | Montserrat Roig
‘We’re going to go crazy today, Merche exclaimed and then let out an electric shriek.’
Fiction by Montserrat Roig, translated by Julia Sanches.
‘I was alone and isolated. But I was not scared.’
Fiction by Kwame McPherson.
‘She boils her sentences down to high-sucrose sweeties and calibrates her tone for maximum engagement.’
Fiction by Natasha Brown.
Animals After Dark | Avigayl Sharp
‘I was not a strong mayor. I was an email. I was a little bit high.’
A short story by Avigayl Sharp.
Feature Image © Cathy Labuduk
