“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

“If it were not for the sun glinting on the pool of rainwater in the slight dip of the lawn, John would have thought he was back  home in Cloghan,

“In the centre of the square, under the American flag, a loose halyard slapped the pole, out of rhythm with the swirling wind. The gritty snow, sharp as sand, had

“Truman wills himself awake, peacock-plume eyed, empty champagne bottle in his lap.  He squints toward the open door, where the chauffeur stands with the sun at his back, features obscured,

“11.00pm glides on oil into midnight and 12.30 am, until Tolly finally finds the courage to leave her sanctuary. She makes her way to the service elevator. Her finger hovers

“The Prime Minister’s posture looks relaxed, but if you look closely he still has the slight twitching of muscles, emblematic of months without enough sleep, and time zone confusions from

“Day after day, GM, the Great Wall lent me its ramparts in the grand setting of the YanShan mountains. I had no need to know where I was going or

“She had been the centre of his life for many years but now she did not exist. At first he had been convinced that they were made for each other,

““I’ll get straight to the point”, said Dr. Mangan who proceeded to do no such thing. He explained that the software that had processed Dweem’s original test results had proved

““Sorry! Sorry – am I late?” The clock on the wall wobbles because the door’s flung open so hard. A girl stands in the doorway and I’m a cartoon figure,

“She asked about life in Berlin before the fall of the Wall and he told her how in the 1970’s when he first came there to avoid being drafted into

“Studies show that fathers experience the same physiological response to a baby’s crying as mothers do. It is nearness to a baby that releases knowledge of what to do. A

“You’re writin your name now I see? Well good on ya. That’s all a man needs to sign his life away ha. But really it’s good. I was twice your

“Ever since writing my first callow lyrics aged 14, I’d been striving to develop as a songwriter, learning different instruments, mastering the studio (we recorded and rehearsed day and night