Published in 2018
221 pages
Wendy Erskine’s short story collection Sweet Home won the Butler Literary Award and was shortlisted for the Edge Hill and Republic of Consciousness prizes and longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize. Her story “Inakeen” was longlisted for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award, while her stories and non-fiction have been broadcast on BBC Radio 3 and 4. She hosts a show on Soho Radio for Rough Trade Books and is also a full-time secondary school teacher.
Born and raised in Northern Ireland during The Troubles that most dangerous and murderous time in the province’s history, Erskine has produced a wry, wise, funny, and utterly compelling collection of stories. She is the kind of writer that makes you fall back in love with reading.
What is this book about?
A reclusive cult-rock icon ends his days in the street where he was born; a lonely woman is fascinated by her niqab-wearing neighbours; a husband and wife become enmeshed in the lives of the young couple they pay to do their cleaning and gardening.
Set in contemporary East Belfast, these eleven acutely observed short stories come charged with regret and sorrow, desire and yearning. With clear-eyed compassion and wry humour, Wendy Erskine deftly lays bare her characters’ struggle to maintain control in an often cruel world, where tragic events cast long shadows. Sweet Home by Wendy Erskine heralds the arrival of a wonderfully compelling and truly distinctive voice from Northern Ireland.
