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Showcase

Sharon Duggal

“Jimmy Noone drifted, alone in a cold subway, falling away with the day as it faded to shadow. He dreamt of balloons: sky-blue, bought by his father to mark his third birthday. The balloons were set free, one by one from the bedroom window as Jimmy, holding onto his brother’s hand, urged them to float higher and higher over brick terraces into a sea of platinum cloud. Their mother smiled weakly, propped up in bed drinking tea, rubbing heavy eyelids between gulps, mug balanced on her swollen belly. His earliest memories always came unexpectedly. Somewhere above the ground there was a clatter and it echoed loudly, jolting dreams away. He was no longer alone. A woman was slumped opposite, head cocked against an image of a sapphire-blue kingfisher. She was young, even younger than him; just a girl really.”

From ‘Should We Fall Behind– included in the showcase

“Should We Fall Behind is my second novel, published in October 2020. It is a story about people who live side by side in a busy city but hardly seem to notice each other until, one day, someone called Jimmy arrives in their midst and things begin to change. Really, it is a book about the stories behind the stories of ordinary people As a writer, this is what I am interested in – the often hidden stories of people who could be any of us, people we walk past everyday, and the universal human experiences which connect us all regardless of who we are or what our backgrounds are.” From the Introduction