Words from a Glass BubbleThis passionate new book gathers together for the first time many of Vanessa Gebbie’s award-winning stories. Described by Maggie Gee as ‘a prodigiously gifted new writer’, this is a natural storyteller; her narratives unfold with a deceptively light touch, exploring with compassion what it is to be human and flawed. ‘Words From a Glass Bubble’ is about coming to terms with the cards we are dealt. The stories pivot around the recognition that those who seem powerless can prove to be the strongest catalysts for change, both in themselves and in others. Vanessa Gebbie never shies away from difficult subjects, creating an intensely emotional and at times distressing world, but it is never totally dark or despairing. Sparks of the unexpected and flashes of humour light the whole collection with an indefatigable optimism. This is a writer with a boundless imagination, who breathes life into the most unlikely characters and events. Batty Annie fishes for her son’s soul in a disused railway tunnel. Tom’s grandmother flies on a circus trapeze. Spike relates to cacti better than people. Eva Duffy befriends a statuette of the Virgin Mary. Pepito pretends he is a priest and suffers the consequences. Shelly has a colonic irrigation to rid herself of the past. Billy hears stones when he shakes his head. Dodie from The General Stores falls for a man who teaches her ‘to think’, and Mikey mourns his wife through graffiti. From Ireland to Czechoslovakia to Wales to Alaska to Ibiza, from contemporary New York to a clinic in the future, this collection will take you on a journey. And Harry? He just goes fishing. |
Contents
Words From a Glass Bubble | 1 |
I Can Squash the King Tommo | 14 |
Bones | 37 |
Copyright | |
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Annie arms baby bird bloke blue boat box of frogs boys breathe Bren Bridport Prize bucket cacti carob tree chlorophytum church cigarette colours Connor dark dead death watch beetle Declan Dodie donkey jacket door dry stone wall dunes ears Elaine eyes face Fairy Liquid feel fingers Finn Piper fish fucking glass gone grey hair hand Harry head hear holding inside kettle laughing leans legs Lightfoot look lych-gate mackerel Maggie Gee Mama Meggie mouth never night Papa Passchendaele Pepito Pete piss pulls pushing round sand says Serbian Scritch Serbian Vera's Shelley Shelley's shit shoes sitting skin smell smiling Smitz someone sorry Spike squash the King stairs stone stuff tell there's things Tommo Price tunnel VM's voice waiting walk wall wanted watching wind window woman Zadie Smith