Extracts

Carrie had just dropped off to sleep when the tuba woke her.

I dreamed that I dreamed about the musty grey soil of the island and the sweet perfume it emits after rainfall, a double remove from a place I will never visit again

SOME PEOPLE ARE natural storytellers. They know how to set the scene, find the right angle, when to pause for dramatic effect or breeze past inconvenient details.

If the bread hadn’t burned, this would be a very different story.

‘Go,’ the other soldier said. ‘Move.’

She did not groan or gasp, or even sigh for me. Could only cry for me, silent rivers in the inert forest light.

I WAS SIX WHEN MY goat left home to go work for Santa.

‘Merry Christmas Ali. Try not to kill anyone.’

Jack hadn't wanted to go but Kate had pleaded with him over the phone.

I HAVE A FATAL flaw. I like to think we all do.

The first thing I do when I arrive on the island is change my name.

In the next town over, a man had killed his family.

There was a moment in 1940, the bleakest year of the Second World War with the Wehrmacht carrying all before it, when Winston Churchill made the French government a curious offer.

Macbeth was the reason I went into the theatre.

Summer 2019 - Reasons Why It’s Good I’m Not With Jen

I once went to kill a man.

When I was very young, I was massively influenced by television. And comics.

The most popular books were from this series called Commando Crocodile, and no matter how many copies she bought, Ms. Masie couldn't keep them on the shelves.