Content note: This piece includes a brief description of a suicide attempt in the context of a book review.
Overwhelmed with work? Drowning in AI-produced slop? Too drained to commit to a 500-pager? The last thing you need is a reading marathon and that’s where short stories and novellas are your friend.
A short story is like a magic act – clever, impactful and with filled with literary sleight of hand to pack a surprising amount into a small space. Inspired by Dua’s Monthly Read for May, So Late In The Day by Claire Keegan, we’ve rounded up six stories and novellas to pick up next – because once you’ve read one short story, you’ll be ready to dive into more.
The News From Dublin by Colm Tóibín
Spanning Dublin and Galway and all the way to Spain South America and San Francisco, Colm Tóibín’s extraordinary short story collection explores lives shaped by distance from home, identity and the past. Across nine stories, displacement, death and disownment take centre stage, capturing moments of upheaval: a woman grieving the death of her son in the First World War, Catalonian sisters returning to their homeland, an undocumented Irish worker suddenly exiled from his home in San Francisco. It’s everything you’d expect from the acclaimed author of Brooklyn and Long Island: characteristically restrained and beautifully melancholic.
Good And Evil And Other Stories by Samantha Schweblin, translated by Megan McDowell
This haunting collection considers six moments of terror, each dissected with Samantha Schweblin’s typically brilliant, controlled prose. The first story opens with a woman emerging from a lake after a suicide attempt, only to return to her family as if nothing has happened – setting the tone for a collection that considers guilt, regret, loss and the seismic effects of past mistakes. If you’re drawn to subtle, deeply considered horror that suspends time and probes your darkest fears, you’ll tear through these tales.
Beautiful Distance by Nao-Cola Yamazaki, translated by Charlotte Goff
In this affecting novella, a man reflects on a life shared with his terminally ill wife. Through his regular visits to the hospital, he tends to her with total devotion, where even the simplest acts of routine like helping her to apply skincare or get into bed are imbued with fervent care. The author gives us an intimate and meditative look at love at the end of life, considering the minutiae of the daily moments that define a precious life together. It’s an emotional read for anyone who has ever loved someone who is unwell, but the novella’s depth and sensitivity makes it so worth a read.
Mr Salary by Sally Rooney
At just 48 pages, this lesser-known bitesize short story is classic Rooney, brimming with yearning, miscommunication and her signature will-they-won’t-they plot. It tells the story of Sukie and the older Nathan, who is at once her close friend, roommate and something of a father figure. As Sukie struggles to suppress her “total and annihilating” love for him, Nathan is afraid of crossing a line. Watching them navigate the uneasy tightrope between platonic love and romantic infatuation feels like an early sketch of Sally Rooney’s later novels, offering a compelling glimpse into the themes that have later come to define her writing.
Hunchback by Saou Ichikawa, translated by Polly Barton
Winner of the lauded Akutagawa Prize, with Saou Ichikawa as the first recipient with a physical disability, Hunchback is a provocative, complex novella that challenges societal perceptions of disability with humour and pacy prose. The story follows Shaka, who lives with a congenital muscle disorder and spends her days in a care home. Despite her physical limitations, she passes the time by publishing explicit fantasies on an online forum, building entire worlds and personalities to experiment with her own desire, frustration and identity. When she enters into a strange, illicit deal with her nurse, the boundaries between victim and perpetrator start to blur. It’s like nothing you’ve ever read before.
Perverts by Mac Crane
For fans of Rejection by Tony Tulathimutte, Mac Crane pushes the boundaries of queer fiction. The 17 tantalising tales each imagine scenarios wilder than the last, from taboo client-therapist affairs and human hunting grounds to theme parks where men pay to perve on women acting as sirens. The collection leaves you wondering who the perverts really are: the characters in the book, or those of us with heteronormative privilege voyeuristically leering at their experiences? Out in July, it’s one to add to your summer TBR pile.
There’s More – Delve Deeper Into So Late In The Day With The Service95 Book Club...
WATCH Dua’s interview with author Claire Keegan
LISTEN to their conversation with the Service95 Book Club podcast
DISCOVER the books that inspired Claire Keegan to write So Late In The Day
EXPLORE an essay by American writer Jackson Katz on how misogyny diminishes men
