Short story collections of the year

It's been quite a while since there was a year when there were too many short story collections to get through. It really has been a great year for short stories. Here are 5 collections that really impressed us.

Dark Lies the Island

by Kevin Barry

Jonathan Cape

The best stories here remind me of V S Pritchett. They carry a heart. There are punch in the stomach moments, laugh-out-loud moments and moments of real tenderness. Barry's ability to fluidity navigate us through the lives of others in...

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This Is How You Lose Her

by Junot Díaz

Faber

One of the year's best collections from one of the world's most effortlessly brilliant writers.

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Homesick

by Roshi Fernando

Bloomsbury

Thoughtful, melancholic, haunting, Homesick is a collection of interlinked stories which muse on growing up, fitting in and the ephemeral nature of human life.

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Suddenly, A Knock At the Door

by Etgar Keret

Chatto and Windus

Etgar Keret's latest collection of off-kilter short stories bring a welcome sense of playful oddness to a genre that is the perfect vehicle for this sort of nimble invention. With the short form a really interesting writer like Keret can...

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This Isn't the Sort of Thing That Happens To Someone Like You

by Jon McGregor

Bloomsbury

Favourite of this parish, Jon McGregor, unleashes a superlative collection of themed short stories, set amongst towns, villages, fens - prominent landscapes that imbue his characters with a sense of hardened tenacity, striving for moments of lightness and tenderness. Featuring...

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