Chapter 1 The Duchy of Lancaster’s housing estate in Harrogate is described euphemistically by local estate agents as ‘The favoured Duchy Estate’. It was built towards the end of the Victorian era for the successful merchants of Harrogate’s booming spa town, and consists of large stone and redbrick properties, many sporting mock Tudor gables. The Read more […]

When Susan recalled how she had been in the summer of ’68, when she had first gone flat-hunting in Edinburgh, what came into her mind, with a rush of embarrassment even after all these years, was her youth, her innocence and her unshakeable belief in the values that her parents had imposed upon her throughout Read more […]

I am sitting in a café at night. I have a table by the window. The café is enveloped in a soft, dim light, but this does not disturb the pitch-black darkness outside. I find it strange that even though there is light, there seems to be nowhere where the light could come from; no Read more […]

1.   ‘I’ll cane you, boy.’ The voice – baritone, resonant, strangely sorrowful – comes from the school library. The word ‘boy’ is elongated, with a slight flourish upwards, like a verbal serif, ‘I’ll cane you, booooooyyy.’ The new first-year boy hurries past the library door, trembling, near tears: what kind of place is this, Read more […]

April 13th 1807 I was hiding in the closet with a sock stuffed in my mouth. Short shallow rapid breathing. I tried with great difficulty to not make a single sound. They were like lions cleverly preying strategically on an unsuspecting plump gazelle. Peering through the slight crack, I watched on as the bright flames Read more […]

Barbara Lovrić is the author of the forthcoming novel The Corn Road, published by Fairlight Books in September 2019. Barbara has been writing short stories and flash fiction for a number of years, which were published in various literary journals. In 2017 Barbara was shortlisted for the Over the Edge New Writer of the Year, and longlisted Read more […]

Fiona Vigo Marshall is the author of the forthcoming novel Find Me Falling, published by Fairlight Books on 21 March 2019. After graduating from Somerville College, Oxford, Fiona started her career at a local newspaper. She then continued pursuing journalism in New Mexico, working for the daily English language newspaper for Mexico City, The News, part of Read more […]

Stefan Grieve said, ‘Paraphrasing a certain archaic Italian often affiliated with a salad, “I came, I read, I wrote” and there may have been other things in-between, too numerous to mention, which would not constitute a short biog. Also, there may have been some Nordic walking and running in there too.’ Stefan has been interested Read more […]

Jonathan Taylor is an author, editor, lecturer and critic. His books include the novels Melissa (Salt, 2015) and Entertaining Strangers (Salt, 2012), both shortlisted for the East Midlands Book Award, the poetry collection Cassandra Complex (Shoestring, 2018), and the memoir Take Me Home: Parkinson’s, My Father, Myself (Granta, 2007). He is director of the MA Read more […]

Tahmina Hussain grew up in the West Midlands. She is currently teaching English for Academic Purposes to non-native university students, and also tutors primary school students with basic English and Maths. Tahmina graduated from Newman University with a BA in English in 2015. After finishing her BA she wasn’t yet ready to go into teaching, Read more […]