The debut short story collection from the RSL Ondaatje-award longlisted author of The Half-life of Snails.
‘I’m a huge fan of Holloway’s writing. And a mood of ancient magic flits like birds through these eerie and delicate modern folk tales.’ – Samira Ahmed
‘Stories about things that matter, admirable for their compassionate yet precise realism and refusal to waste words.’ – Maggie Gee
‘Holloway’s exquisite collection delicately untangles small moments to reveal their monumental significance, and these tender stories continue to reveal themselves long after you’ve closed the book.’ – Catrin Kean
‘Untethered from each other – and, just as importantly, from the natural world – we might struggle to thrive, or even survive. Philippa Holloway’s stories acknowledge the necessity of making and maintaining good connections.’ – Nicholas Royle
‘The collection carefully examines the relationship between the natural and modern world, how humans interact with nature and how they react when nature diverts from its regular patterns’ – Imogen Davies, Nation. Cymru
Dead birds fall from the sky, an octopus lies stranded on a beach, and a lost shoe becomes a public shrine … Untethered, Philippa Holloway’s first collection of short stories, provides an unflinching glimpse of daily life interrupted by unexpected events. Small intrusions into familiar spaces reveal nothing is as it seems. Sometimes it demands a change of viewpoint, sometimes a cutting loose to find freedom.
From conflicted parental expectations to unwanted visitors, from discovering tiny human teeth in the garden to a brief encounter with a murderer over the kitchen table, these precise, realist tales scrutinise families and lovers, colleagues and strangers with a keen emotional depth and sharp observation. Each one is a vivid snapshot exposing the fragile ties that hold people together.
Here we see how pigeons become terrible portents, dining tables become autopsy benches and confessionals, and a family is forced out of their home with just minutes to pack.
Philippa Holloway is a writer and academic with a varied career history that includes being a goatherd, a medical technician at a racing circuit, and a library assistant. Her short fiction has been published internationally, and her debut novel, The Half-life of Snails was longlisted for the RSL Ondaatje prize for ‘a distinguished work evoking the spirit of place,’ and has been featured in an international podcast, serialised in a national newspaper, and praised on BBC Radio 4’s Front Row as ‘powerful, evocative… a terrific book.’
Review: in the Nation
Read: The Last Firework, Lunate Fiction
Prompt: Write three lines about each season. Make tiny observations about the people closest to you and how they behave in these seasons, noting these down as you work. Now attempt to write a story that takes place in the course of a year including all the seasons and tiny observations you’ve made.