In this collection of varied and exquisite short stories, Linda Leatherbarrow brings together for the first time her prize-winning short prose with new and previously unpublished work. A wide-ranging, rich and surprising gallery of characters includes a nineteen-year-old girl leaving home, a talking gorilla in the swinging sixties, a shoe fetishist and a long-distance walker. The prose is lyrical, witty and uplifting, moving and always pertinent - proof that the short story is the perfect literary form for contemporary urban life. These stories display a seriously fresh original talent and are essential reading for short-story lovers everywhere.

'A debut collection from an intriguing writer ... joyously surreal ... gnomically funny, and touching'--Shena Mackay 'I couldn't put this collection down. Hoorah for the vibrant short story - here it is, in all its magnificence'Julia Darling

Linda Leatherbarrow was born in Dumfries, Scotland, and moved to England when she was five years old. She was educated at Hornsey School of Art and Goldsmiths College and has worked as a designer and illustrator. She teaches short-story writing at Middlesex University, The Mary Ward Centre and the City Literary Institute, London. Her short stories have won first prize in the London Writers Competition three times; in 2001 she won a Bridport Prize and an Asham Award. Several of her stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4.