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Sweet Home

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Sweet Home

By: Wendy Erskine
Narrated by: Wendy Erskine
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About this listen

'A gripping, wonderfully understated book that oozes humanity, emotion and humour.' Guardian

Shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize 2019

Longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize 2019

Longlisted for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award 2019

A Book of the Year in the Guardian, The White Review, Observer, New Statesman, TLS.

Set in the author’s native Belfast, the ten stories in Sweet Home lay bare the heartbreak and quiet tragedies that run under the surface of everyday lives. A lonely woman is fascinated by her niqab-wearing neighbours; a middle-aged teacher becomes obsessed with a young Gaelic football player; and an employer covers for his two employees caught having sex in a public toilet.

Wendy Erskine offers perfectly formed, brilliantly observed portraits of people trying to carve out a life for themselves, all the while being buffeted by the loss, grief and regret that come their way. Warm, compassionate and funny, Sweet Home captures life in contemporary East Belfast, in all of its forms.

©2019 Wendy Erskine (P)2019 Macmillan Publishers International Ltd Anthologies & Short Stories Dark Humour Family Life Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Literature & Fiction Short Stories Heartfelt

Critic reviews

Spiky and funny, dark and stylish – Wendy Erskine is a natural-born story-teller, and this is a brilliant debut collection. (Kevin Barry)
With skill and style, Erskine unpicks the underlying complexity of ordinary lives, the unexpected intricacy of ordinary situations. These are stories about ramification as opposed to redemption; dark, bittersweet and perfectly formed. (Sara Baume)
A collection of deft, depth-charged short stories. (Paul Muldoon)
Wry and wise, gripping and funny, I loved this brilliant collection. (David Nicholls)
Wendy Erskine's first collection, Sweet Home . . . is every bit as good as her early stories in the always astute Stinging Fly magazine promised. (Jon McGregor)
I was drawn to the depth and soul of Wendy Erskine’s characters in her debut story collection Sweet Home. (Nicole Flattery)
Erskine’s arrestingly original debut short-story collection bears the ghost of 68-98, as she writes about the magic, ferocity and surrealism of contemporary Protestant Belfast. (David Keenan)
The best collection of short stories I’ve read in a long time, a real spark-plug of a book. (Ian Sansom 'Summer books 2019')
Sweet Home by Wendy Erskine is a short story collection that everyone should investigate. (Benjamin Myers)
Among the best short stories I’ve ever read. (Michael Hughes)
All stars
Most relevant
Original, soul prodding , devastatingly penned tales about nothing and everything.
brilliant brilliant set of short stories.
Real LOLs at various points, especially at the loyalist sex line.
Expertly voiced as Wendy lives each line.
highly recommended.
These stories stayed with me for days, especially Locksmiths and To All Their Dues.

inspiration

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Knowing this writer personally I was intrigued to know how she would fare as an author. I wasn't disappointed. The stories are all very relatable. Nothing wildly unbelievable, just home grown stories about ordinary people, set in an area of Belfast where I grew up. If you are a fan of true to life, no nonsense fiction then this is the book for you. Well done Wendy!

Short but definitely sweet

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