An anthology of stories 15-30 pages long that "explore the concept of love" - unrequited, obsessive, familial, etc.
- Before it disappears (Rowan Hisayo Buchanan) - Joy (Chinese origins) and Richard are about 30, married for 5 years. He deals with wills. She started cutting when 15. After Richard's brief infidelity her eating disorder returned, trying to starve herself. Now she can hardly walk. Doctors have given up. He takes her for a holiday in a Scottish cottage. He feeds her honey. In the night she sees a unicorn and goes outside, naked. Richard saves her. She starts eating more, so next time she'll be strong enough to leave. When Richard goes shopping she goes down the road, falls down. A unicorn nuzzles her. She gets on it and heads off.
- One more thing coming undone (D.W. Wilson) - When he returns home late (bad weather nearby the Rockies, an accident), Duncan (1st person; he's 41) is visited by Animal Brooks after 20 years. Audrey and their child are asleep upstairs. Animal asks if he loves Vic Crane. Duncan starts the 5 hour drive to her. Animal catches him up. She's living in Animal's old house, where Duncan lived for a while. "They say your first love is the most intense and the most lasting, but maybe it just takes the most from you, leaves the biggest hole," he thinks. They exchange news of their lives. Vic has a Ph.D. Are they still in love? They give each other a chance to make the first move. They both know Animal died a while ago. He drives home. "You end up loving people for their habits, for the things they do without knowing." He and Vic petered out, that's all.
- White wine (Nikesh Shukla) - The first person narrator (Asian male; an unsuccessful artist; aware of racism) has a younger sister Rupa (successful accountant, unaware of racism). Their wise mother is dead. Rupa's boss is being unfair to her. She learns about white wine because he likes it. Later he helps her move. She's left her job because her company didn't sack her racist boss. (not as good as the 2 previous stories)
- Magdala, who slips sometimes (Donal Ryan) - Maggy (her 1st person PoV; she's nearly 40) and Robert were lovers at school until Robert's parents made him pick posher girls. He married Ursula Fox and has 2 kids. She's filled her spare room with a 1/72 scale diorama of their lives together. His brother had killed himself. Her mother died, then her father. She slips sometimes, sleeing with hopeless men hoping to become pregnant, imagining Rob with her.
- Codas (Carys Bray) - Big Kev (60+) calls Louise (the 3rd person PoV; piano teacher) because her father (Phil, 69) fell while coaching a football team. Max, her son, plays too - but he also does ballet. She takes her father to hospital - a stroke. He has an op. She's been separated from (but still friends with) David for 2 years. Her mother lives abroad. He only wants Louise to visit him in hospital. Max doesn't want anybody to know about the ballet. Max insists in visiting. He shows his grandad a video of him doing ballet. (I like it)
- The love story (Grace McCleen) - She lives with her parents in a terrace house. Her mother's a happy housewife. Her more distant father is a well-off builder. She's top at school. At 8 she makes scenes in her room and plays out love stories. She's impressed by the concept of a story she reads where a boy searches for the girl he loves only to discover that he was a girl at birth, transformed into a boy by a witch. To become that girl, the boy must die. On holiday she sees many couples in love. She watches her parents, who are more loving. She's unsure about what sex is. She is overwhelmed in the pool by an intense moment of joy. Nothing will be the same again. (No)
- The human world (Bernadine Evaristo) - God (1st person PoV) tells us that some believers give him/her a bad reputation. S/he lives in orbit, watching a hundred screens. S/he can't do miracles - s/he can make people think. S/he's outwitted by the Deep Web. (Easily the worst piece in the book.)
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