This is an excerpt from Emma Sweeney's novel-in-progress, The Gossamer Year. The novel, which follows a darkly erotic relationship between a talented British illustrator and her elderly Japanese mentor, explores how one event can rupture many lives.

Simple Words

Tragedy and the absurd

Holes Cast No Shadows is a novel that chronicles one man's ten-year struggle against the nature surrounding him. This is an excerpt.

Caught in a fire

Excerpt from 'The Models' from The Seurat Stories.

In the years immediately following the collapse of the Cultural Revolution, two English teachers – apparent strangers – meet in the dining room of a river boat scheduled to take them through the Yangtse Gorges.

Regret, longing and a pedicure

In a moment of peril for her son, a mother weighs the balance of regret and achievement in her own life.