“Routine was the word. I liked routine, a route to somewhere in time. A rope with which to pull myself along, by sheer force of will, to the other side

Hello, my name is Scruffy, and I’ve lost my blanket. Where can it be? It’s snuggly and warm and smells just like me. I know, I’ll sniff it out! Extract

“The carpet on the stairs is thin and tattered. A thousand shuffling footfalls have worn it bare. The bedroom upstairs has a bed and a chest of drawers, and nothing

“On the road ahead a wagon was on its side. Two German soldiers were on the ground, being treated for injuries. Several others were languishing by the roadside, smoking. A

Sidra stepped forward and looked out again. She looked around apprehensively. She knew she looked awkward but there was nothing she could do about it. Some of the more experienced

“The horror of coming ashore for good. God. A punch in the gut, and an irritation that has her glaring back at his lighthouse for an explanation. Were she and

“Within a year I would not even look at Alec. I seemed hardly to notice him when we drove past the compound in the back of the Land Rover, laughing

“Wadud’s story was entangled in the story of his nation, bookended by the two most important and bloody events in its history, its first birth at the time of independence

“This is the most important secret my father told me: Whenever you are lost, you must turn your shirt inside out.” Extract from ‘Way Back Home’ – included in the

“Noor’s mother wore black and the air was scented with gardenias when they stepped out of the house. They crossed the road holding hands, making their way to Uncle Ali’s

“I put my eye to the peephole and flick the switch on the wall. Inside the room, the ceiling light beams on the grass-green carpet dotted with daisies and on

“Empress Cixi was a woman on a mission, but onlookers in the palace gardens would not have guessed this from the delicate footsteps she took in her silk shoes. The

“Over the previous few days, Leonie had asked Venus questions in bursts. Where was Daddy, when was he going to stop being dead, why was he dead, what was dead.

“He had always felt more Scottish than Jewish. For his Barmitvah he had learned the Hebrew texts. He had attended synagogue on high festivals, but generated paternal displeasure when he

“I looked at the ticket on my phone again, at the spirals spinning around the castle on the island, then looked back at the real thing. It was all starting

“Asha walked out towards the vast water, stretching so far that it looked more like an ocean. She’d met Pran for the first time by Lake Victoria, down by Entebbe.

“Feet first. I supposed that would be the way to do it, the way that made the most sense. I could visualise myself curling my fingers around the handle of

“She watched with her hands holding onto her knees and her legs tightly closed. As the minutes passed her lips dried, and she started to feel uncomfortable in her chair,

“For two years, we’d been meticulously drilled on how to respond when we were under fire. We’d practiced with the Queen’s firing blanks at us while our sergeant majors screamed,

“All their mother’s warnings about what a dangerous place it was and how they should always keep away from it, flashed through Inez’s head. Up close, she could see how