London Road Linked Stories Volume 1

By Tessa Smith McGovern

GOLD MEDAL WINNER 2012 eLIT AWARDS, AMAZON BEST-SELLERPraise for LONDON ROAD: LINKED STORIES: "...reminiscent of the writer who appears in one of the stories: the great Katherine Mansfield." -Cynthia Rogerson, winner, V.S. Pritchett Memorial Prize for a Short Story, UK KIRKUS RECOMMENDED REVIEW: "In seven short stories, residents of a London boardinghouse reach moments of clarity. On London Road, lined with scruffy shops, stands No. 17, a detached red-brick Victorian that's been turned into a boardinghouse. Its residents tend toward hard luck and desperation: Janice is just out of prison; Mandy is on probation; Bitty has a good education, but is scarred by her mother's frequent abandonments; and Isobel is mentally unstable. Nora, the landlady, writes romance novels but has experienced little romance herself, and her daughter, Anna, is disgusted by Isobel's outbursts.Their interconnected stories take place on a day of unusually hot weather, and focus on one resident at a time, with Janice's story told in two parts. In each, characters have a chance to make a leap of faith in other people, or in the future. In "The Walls of Buckingham Palace," for example, Nora--who adores the queen--reflects on an uneasy encounter with Len, her local pub's new landlord, who drank too much and frightened her off: "But every night since, her sleep had been disturbed by longings she thought had long since been vanquished." It takes queenlike courage for her to return to the pub, where she finds that Len is apologetic, sincere, and kind. Pointing to a framed photograph of the queen, he remarks, "You remind me of her, you do"; nothing, of course, could better gain her trust and win her over.Though spare and fast-paced, McGovern's (Cocktails for Book Lovers, 2014, etc.) tales evoke entire biographies. She focuses on illuminative details and subtle, turning-point moments, as when Mandy, a young woman on probation, reacts to her mandatory book group's reading of Katherine Mansfield's 1922 short story "The Garden Party." It stokes her resentment, as she doesn't even know if people still give garden parties. Mandy makes plans to shoplift again, but something about the book group leader's hopefulness and the invitation to give her honest opinion sparks her determination to win--maybe a literary argument, or maybe more chocolate wafers. Tales with subtle, positive but never saccharine transformations that feel fully earned."EXCERPT: WHEN JANICE BAILEY WALKEDThe day Janice Bailey was released from prison was the hottest Friday on record in England. Even at eight thirty in the morning, heat waves rippled across yellow and brown fields and, as Janice walked away from the metallic clank of the closing door of Chorley Prison, her white pumps stuck to the black top, and birds sat silently in the trees.She paused, remembering what she had been told: 'Turn left outside the gate and keep going for twenty minutes until you come to the train station.' The prison was off the bus route, so if no-one met you, you had to walk to the station in Chorley and catch a train to - where? London, Janice supposed. She hadn't made any plans. What was the point? She was a fifty seven year old convicted criminal with no family - her parents were both dead and she'd never had children - and no prospect of a job. Who would want to hire her? She'd tried to ignore her release day, creeping nearer, because, if she had a choice, she would rather stay in prison.Janice swung the Tesco's carrier bag over her shoulder and started walking. The bag contained everything she brought with her five years ago: three ?20 notes, her building society passbook which now held ?1,113.23 (interest at 2%), a soft denim purse complete with Shining Red lipstick and a regular tampon plus keys to a flat she no longer rented and a photograph of a man she no longer loved.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1521132089
• ISBN13: 9781521132081
• Release Date: April 2017
• Publisher: Independently published
• Length: 72 Pages
• Weight: 0.25 lbs.
• Dimensions: 8.0" x 0.2" x 5.0"