The café’s door handle was too high for Joe to get open and move in smoothly around, but that wasn’t a problem: a woman carrying a paper shopping bag from Goods was coming out as he was going in, and she left the door on for him, giving him one of those distracted creased-mouth smiles, […]
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England is Mine
The following is an extract from Nicolas Padamsee’s debut novel England is Mine published by Serpent’s Tail in April 2024. I David THE PRE-SHOW MUSIC STOPS. Darkness. A plastic cup whizzes over David, showering him with beer. He laughs and runs a hand through his hair. Brixton Academy, Karl Williams, a gig he’s looked […]
Lesley In Therapy
The following is a story from Naomi Wood’s collection This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things published by Phoenix in April 2024. Though their babies were very different ages, Lesley and Irina had returned from maternity leave at the same time: Irina had taken all of her allowance, plus holiday, but Lesley […]
The Red Hollow
The following is an extract from Natalie Marlow’s novel The Red Hollow, published by Baskerville in March 2024. Chapter One Thursday, 1 February 1934 William stood near the office window, tea tray in hand, and stared out onto Needless Alley. It was not quite eight o’clock, and Birmingham was bathed in a mucky morning […]
Practice
The following is an excerpt from Rosalind’s debut novel Practice published by Weidenfeld & Nicolson and reproduced with permission. Oxford, 2009 The alarm goes off. A small spider, sitting in a corner of the dark room, would see her stir in bed, and her hand slow and uncomplaining reach over to the clock. […]
Junyan
I wasn’t surprised when Suzanne said she was going to leave me. I had expected that she’d find out about the affair one day, and perhaps even hoped that she would; I had imagined her fury, her smashing bowls and plates, screaming and demanding an explanation or excuse, and her fingernail scratches on my […]
Blank Child
The following is an extract from a novel in progress. He’s yelling for her still. Looking back from where we come. Wailing Naaaa Neeeeee. I had thought the cart would please him. The horse, and the speed of it. But he’s clinging to the side with his hand all bloody. Too dark to […]
Spy Hunter
An extract from HB Lyle’s new novel Spy Hunter published by Hodder & Stoughton in November 2023. Sunday 28th June 1914 Magnificence on wheels. The most wonderful thing he’d ever seen. A line of them, catching the sunshine in metallic bursts. A motorcade of power. Mehmed Mehmedbasic watches as the glorious cars go past and […]
Gaslight
An extract from Femi Kayode’s second novel, Gaslight, published by Raven Books in November 2023. GENESIS Let them come for him during Sunday service. They should wait for him to walk to the altar. Let him check that the cameras are placed as he directed during rehearsals. Give him time to mumble some […]
Seaweed Rising
An extract from Rob Magnuson Smith’s third novel Seaweed Rising, published by Sandstone Press in November 2023. The divisions onboard the Farolita soon became explicit. The crew looked after ship maintenance, navigation, and the safety of the expedition. The passengers—an international consortium of seaweed executives—concerned themselves with flow charts, algae distribution surveys and […]