---

A dozen stories: a dozen ways of looking at love, or the lack of love. Over five previous collections, A. L. Kennedy has shown herself to be a master of the short form, with a perfect way with sentences and a voice so distinct as to be instantly recognisable.

---

The dazzling new collection from the Costa Prize-winning author of Day and The Blue Book.

She doesn´t ever lie to him unless it´s for the best.

A husband and wife wait for a train as their relationship unspools silently around them. A woman contemplates the idea of her lover dying as she queues in a bank. An almost impossibly uncomfortably lunch culminates in a passionate kiss. In this dazzling collection of stories lies the battlefield of the heart, where characters who have suffered somehow emerge - haltingly, awkwardly - into the astonishment of intimacy.

---

"One of the most consistently dazzling writers of her generation... Kennedy´s stories are a little like love: no matter how many times they break your heart, you still come back for more. This collection proves, once again, that it is always worth it." Katy Guest Independent on Sunday

---

A. L. Kennedy has twice been selected as one of Granta´s Best of Young British Novelists and has won a host of other awards - including the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day. She lives in Essex.

---