by M. J. Hyland
First published 2012
This anthology presents the five stories that reached the final round of the BBC National Short Story Award. Britain's most skilled short fiction writers examine what drives people apart even when they desperately want to connect. Characters wrestle with desire that consumes them, envy that poisons relationships, and the gulf that opens between people who once felt close. These stories push love to its breaking point and ask what remains when affection cannot bridge the distance between two people. The collection captures moments when human connection fails despite our best efforts to maintain it. Each story reveals how isolation can emerge even in the midst of intimacy, and how the things we want most can become the very forces that destroy us.
Genres: short-stories, literary-fiction, anthologies, contemporary, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: enemies-to-lovers, intimacy
118 pages · Paperback · Comma Press
Content warnings: emotional-abuse, toxic-relationship