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

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 his two runner-up stories from BBC National Short Story Award ('Wires' and 'If It Keeps On Raining') and some experimental pieces of shorter fiction, including lists of places and actions, and cunning, witty titles (like 'Supplementary Notes to the Testimony of Appellants B&E'), the stories are conversational and dry masking more wrought bittersweet emotions underneath.

McGregor's use of recurring characters, whether reported on or witness to events, unnamed narrators and interweaving narratives brings the stories together into a loose community, tying everything with an unspoken familiarity.

Having written poet, lyrical works on death and quiet destruction like Even the Dogs, McGregor shows off his funnier side. The jokes and wit in his longer fictions are hard to come by, but are present. Here, in the stories, a laugh is juxtaposed with a sigh, a barbed comment with a dry piece of witty advice - the laughs are present, sometimes nervous, sometimes at a character's expense, but it always feels authentic.

Bloomsbury declared 2012 the year of the short story, and this collection, from an established and acclaimed author as its masthead release. It's an expansive and lyrical collection and deserves all of your attention. It's brilliant. The year of the short story it is...