Granta 118

'The Island', a photo essay by Stacy Kranitz presents a series of shots from Isle de Jean Charles, which is slowly disappearing into the Gulf of Mexico. Shrimp boats lay disused, a child plays alone on a rope swing attached to a tree dead from saltwater erosion, a lone child walks a flooded main road in a tropical storm. The photographs tell a story of an island cut off from the mainland US and much neglected by its government.

Such isolation is rife in this excellent issue of Granta, taking 'exit strategies' as its theme. In 'War Dogs' Aleksandar Hemon remembers departing Sarajevo for America shortly before the city became a war zone. Behind him he leaves his family, friends and household dog, Mek, an Irish setter.

In 'America' Chinelo Okparanta tells the story of a woman who yearns to leave Nigeria to be with her lesbian lover in America. Susan Minot re-imagines the 1992 Aboke abduction in which 139 girls were taken from their school in Uganda in 'Thirty Girls', an especially harrowing piece. While Adrienne Rich's 'Endpapers' is a striking poetic exploration of the language of imprisonment and release.

Other strong contributions come from Claire Messud who travels to Beirut in search of the city her dying father knew in his youth and Daniel Alarcón, who writes about a boy who pretends to be his brother to please his father, a formally playful story that posits acting and performance as another sort of exit strategy. And finally John Barth writes about no longer being able to write.