Released: 28/05/2017
ISBN: 9781788035439
eISBN: 9780993539602
Format: Paperback/eBook
The short stories in this assured first collection range in place and time - from a young man's uncertain return to the countryside of his childhood at the end of WW1 (In the Merry Month of May), to a criminal meeting in a contemporary London pub (Getting It Sorted); from the world of knocker-boys and antiques runners in 80's Brighton (The Bibliophiles), to a Scottish farmer's romantic decision during a winter day's hedging (The Hechle). What they have in common is the same assured mastery of language and of ordinary speech, and the same powerful evocation of place and time. These are also narratives which deftly explore the hidden intricacies of the human heart: tales of unconventional love and illicit love, tales of uxorious love and infidelity, of love triangles, and long-lost love... And all the stories gathered here share a common sensibility, too; one which seeks to uncover the profound within the minutiae of everyday life and work, and which reveals with insight and compassion the tightrope we all walk between the debilitating threat of loss and the hope which sustains us...
Jonathan's first collection of short stories is published this month...
Critical responses ahead of publication have been overwhelmingly positive:
“Fantastically heady stuff - provocative and confrontational – utterly compelling.”
(Jeremy Sheldon, The Literary Consultancy, The Bibliophiles)
“Beautifully written.”
(Joanne Reardon, BBC Radio Drama, on Second Wind)
“A superb depiction of rural life and relationships, with an astonishing sense of place.”
(Joanne Harris, author, about A Spell in Winter)
“A fine, moving story.”
(Joy Hendry, Editor Chapman magazine, about The First Touch)
“What an eye for landscape, and for the day-to-day minutiae of farming life...”
(Judging Panel, Real Writers Awards).
Ebook: 94 pp ISBN 978-0-935396-0-2
Available to download from: Amazon, iBooks, Google Play, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, and all major ebook retailers...
Publication date: 12th May 2016 (Pre-publication orders from: 30th April)
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As well as being the author of award-winning short stories - some of which appear together for the first time in his collection from Postilion Press, A Spell in Winter - Jonathan Dodds has also written a novel, Trouble, which will be published in June 2016.
Jonathan worked in publishing and bookselling for fifteen years, and more recently has been running a successful property company, but currently devotes "as much time as possible" to writing.
He has spent periods of his life in Yorkshire, where he grew up, in London, Brighton and in Scotland. Over the last twenty years, he has divided his time between Sussex and his family's Scottish croft.
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