Diving Belles

Lucy Wood's debut collection of short stories evokes the Cornwall landscape, and her deftly drawn characters confide a deeply ambivalent view of the past, and of possibilities which are now closed to them. The juxtaposition of Cornish folklore with contemporary concerns is subtly illuminating; there are allusions to mermaid mythology and the behaviour of birds and animals seem to mimic human emotions.

The title story is a mystical rumination on loss as Iris, a widow whose husband was 'taken' 48 years ago, accepts a ticket from a friend which entitles her to three trips in the 'Diving Bell'. Demelza, the guardian of this mystical contraption, entreats local women to explore the shipwreck on the seabed for glimpses of their disappeared men as 'they all come back. They stay local, you see'. But will the young man she lost so long ago be a stranger now, if she is able to lay her eyes on him again? Her life has moved on, but he exists only in stasis.

Similarly, in 'Magpie', a recently married man tries to rekindle a friendship with a woman he knew in his youth, who is back in town for a brief visit. The café they used to adore meeting in seems smaller, and far less appealing than the place they remember; they seem to have little in common now and their interaction is soulless, their nostalgia empty. The staccato trail of a magpie across local woodlands draws the man to a boys' den, reminding him of the refuge of the home he shares with his wife, who absorbs her husband's recollections into her dreams, blurring reality with imagination to a sometimes disturbing degree.

Diving Belles and Other Stories has been longlisted for the Frank O'Connor International Short Story Award.