“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

“Lorraine unlocked the car doors and they climbed in. A nervous passenger at best, Miss Perfect could only hope that Lorraine’s driving might prove more sensible, more sedate, than some

“A small girl had darted out from the trees, made her way barefoot to the bay and then clambered onto the jagged rocks as easily as if she was wearing

“Taksheel looked resigned. It was the conclusion he had reached himself but to have it set forth like this made it seem absolute. He felt grief for the future that

“I hurried to the veranda and found him in a tangle with Amarya. I didn’t rush to intervene, unclear as to what exactly was happening. Muri was trying to free

“I go to fetch more water but I am thinking about the picture. In the black and white photograph, Auntie Pat’s lips are the same shade as the toffee apples.

“He’d check for signs of life in a moment. For now though, he just sat. As the floodwaters of adrenalin subsided, the familiar sense of wretchedness was once again exposed.

“Miss Sowerton stopped before a black door and produced a large key. A rumbling came from within the lock as the key turned, and Sarah had the sudden idea of

“There is faraway bird-call, the startled flap of a fresh waked pigeon,   A deer eye appears, and vanishes back into shadow.” Extract from poetry collection ‘Bird Sisters’ – included

“William was called away by one of the crew before he could respond. For a moment, Davy stayed at the rail watching the shadow of the Esmeralda turn in the

“I wanted to know if Martyn and Spry were involved at all. In a really tight group like theirs it’s hard to tell the couples. They were one of those