Intimacies: Winner of the 2021 BBC National Short Story Award

Review My FAVE short stories ever! -- Pandora Sykes All these stories are perfect but 'All the People Were Mean and Bad' slayed me altogether. Pain written with such tenderness. Extraordinary. -- Louise Kennedy These eleven stories are sharp and impactful accounts of young women traversing modern life. As a writer she has a glorious skill for creating narratives in which every element works in perfect tandem ... Intimacies is a memorable and unmissable book from one of Ireland's most essential writers. ― Sunday Times An astute observer of the mundane, Caldwell finds poetry - and even a kind of religiosity - in the quotidian rituals of domesticity. ― Irish Times An outstanding collection. Caldwell's skill is evident on every page. ― Guardian Exquisite. ― The Bookseller Embedded in these stories are exquisite, often moving descriptions where everyday moments mix with the monumental. ― Financial Times Caldwell has a glorious skill for creating narratives in which every element works in perfect tandem: the balanced precision of a Calder mobile in literary form. The result is a collection in which there genuinely isn't a single dud - a minor miracle. Intimacies is a memorable and unmissable book from one of Ireland's most essential writers. ― The Times Eleven perfect stories, each one powerfully moving, empathetic, passionate, eloquent - apparently simple, actually profound . . . Every one of these stories is faultless. There is a stunning, original talent at work here: a sharp political mind, a precise observational eye, and an extraordinary capacity for empathy. ― Irish Independent This collection is filled with such moments of depth and immensity among the ordinary, handled with deftness but also a degree of commitment and authenticity that is moving and beautiful. -- Niamh Campbell ― Irish Independent Heart-stoppingly good. Lucy Caldwell is a masterful writer. -- Lisa McGee, writer of Derry Girls These are precise and beautifully controlled fictions but with strange, wild energies pulsing along just beneath the surface. A tremendous collection. -- Kevin Barry Caldwell explores what it means to be a woman with devastating honesty, warmth and compassion. She manages to get underneath the skin of her characters exploring situations which are unique, yet heartbreakingly familiar. -- Jan Carson One of the truest short story writers we have. With Intimacies she makes the short story her own. Imaginatively, emotionally, even formally, the stories contained here take her work to a new pitch of achievement. I can think of no more complete collection. Read. Read again. Remember now and then to breathe. -- Glenn Patterson Beautifully illuminative of women's lives today. This is work of the highest quality which enlightens and enriches the heart. -- David Park Product Description *Includes the winner of the 2021 BBC National Short Story Award* 'Smart, nuanced and sometimes heart-stopping.' Anne Enright 'Outstanding.' Guardian 'Eleven perfect stories.' Irish Independent 'Glorious.' The Times 'My FAVE collection ever.' Pandora Sykes In eleven stories, Intimacies exquisitely charts the steps and missteps of young women trying to find their place in the world. From a Belfast student ordering illegal drugs online to end an unwanted pregnancy to a young mother's brush with mortality, and from a Christmas Eve walking the city centre streets when everything seems possible, to a night flight from Canada which could change a life irrevocably, these are stories of love, loss and exile, of new beginnings and lives lived away from 'home'. 'Embedded in these stories are exquisite, often moving descriptions where everyday moments mix with the monumental.' Financial Times Book Description 'Precise and beautifully controlled fictions but with strange, wild energies pulsing along just beneath the surface. A tremendous collection.' Kevin Barry From the Back Cover In eleven stories, Intimacies exquisitely charts the steps and missteps