In these varied and exquisite short stories, Linda Leatherbarrow brings together for the first time her prize-winning short prose with new and previously unpublished work.
A wide-ranging, rich and surprising gallery of characters includes a nineteen-year-old girl leaving home, a talking gorilla in the swinging sixties, a shoe fetishist and a long-distance walker.
The prose is lyrical, witty and uplifting, funny and moving, always pertinent – proving that the short story is the perfect literary form for contemporary urban life. Essential reading for short-story lovers everywhere.
'Full of acute observation, surprising imagery... joyously surreal, gnomically funny, and touching' - Shena Mackay
'I couldn't put this collection down. Hoorah for the vibrant short story - here it is, in all its magnificance' - Julia Darling
About the Author
Linda Leatherbarrow was born in Dumfries, Scotland, and teaches short-story writing at Middlesex University.
One of the UK’s leading short-story writers, she has won a Bridport Prize, an Asham Award, and first prize in the London Writers Competition three times.
Several of her stories have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4.
Publication date for Essential Kit: 13 October 2004
Essential Kit - Linda Leatherbarrow