Lucy Caldwell

'Exhilarating, devastating, comforting, essential.' CLAIRE KILROY'These are stories which sing off the page.' JAN CARSON'Powerful, compelling and richly crafted.' MARY COSTELLO'Profoundly intimate.' TAHMIMA ANAMThe highly-anticipated new collection from the BBC National Short Story Award-winning author of Multitudes, Intimacies and Openings'There must be moments when we let go - let go of all that we do, all that we are.'A young Belfast theatre troupe brings its experimental production of Hamlet to New York. On a night-flight, travelling with a violin older than the United States, a professional musician slips through time. A man who loses all he thought he had, and finds himself haunted by all he never will, comes to a painful new understanding of what it might mean to love. Transporting and profound, these are stories of love, grief, longing, of new beginnings, and the ways we find shelter in each other. 'One of our best short story writers.' THE TIMES'[Caldwell] holds the reader right up against the tender humanity of her characters.' EIMEAR McBRIDE'A next-level author of short stories.' THE HERALD

AN IRISH TIMES BEST IRISH BOOK OF THE 21ST CENTURY ''Beautifully crafted, and so finely balanced that she holds the reader right up against the tender humanity of her characters.'' Eimear McBride''A writer of rare elegance and beauty, Caldwell doesn''t just get inside her characters'' minds. She perches in the precarious chambers of their hearts, telling their stories truthfully and tenderly.'' IndependentMultitudes is the beautiful debut story collection from the acclaimed, prize-winning novelist and playwright Lucy CaldwellFrom Belfast to London and back again the ten stories that comprise Caldwell''s first collection explore the many facets of growing up - the pain and the heartache, the tenderness and the joy, the fleeting and the formative - or ''the drunkenness of things being various''. Stories of longing and belonging, they culminate with the heart-wrenching and unforgettable title story.

''One of the finest short-storywriters at work today. These stories are honest, finely nuanced and indelible.’WENDY ERSKINE''One of our best short story writers.'' THE TIMES‘You’ll lose yourself in this collection and, most likely, find yourself too. Each story is a masterclass.''JAN CARSONThe much-anticipated new collection from the BBC National Short Story Award-winning author of Multitudes and Intimacies.I still sometimes wonder if one could draw a window in the wall, or in the air, and step through it together. To somewhere else, entirely new.From a highly charged Christmas party in Belfast to a passionate affair in Blitz-era London, to a trip to Marrakech which could form a new family, the thirteen striking stories of Openings pulse with possibility and illuminate those fleeting but recognisable moments of heartbreak and hope that can change the course of a life.‘It takes a writer as subtle, compassionate and clear-eyed as Caldwell to track the hidden forces that work upon us, to illuminate our secret selves. This is prose that liberates.’CLAIRE KILROY‘Caldwell has a glorious skill for creating narratives in which every element works in perfect tandem.’SUNDAY TIMES

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; 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'. Taking in, too, the lives of other women who could be guiding lights - from Monica Lewinsky to Caroline Norton to Sinead O'Connor - Intimacies offers keenly felt and subtly revealing insights into the heartbreak and hope of modern life.

When Euan and Ruth set off with their young daughter to live in Bahrain, it is meant to be an experience and adventure they will cherish. But on the night they arrive, Ruth discovers the truth behind the missionary work Euan has planned and feels her world start to crumble. Far from home, and with events spiralling towards war in nearby Iraq, she starts to question her faith ﾖ in Euan, in their marriage and in all she has held dear. With Euan so often away, she is confined to their guarded compound with her neighbours and, in particular, Noor, a troubled teenager recently returned to Bahrain to live with her father. Confronted by temptations and doubt, each must make choices that could change all of their lives for ever. Compelling, passionate and deeply resonant, The Meeting Point is a novel about idealism and innocence, about the unexpected turns life can take and the dangers and chances that await us.