I picked up this collection on a whim in Oxfam Books a few months ago, I’d vaguely heard good things about Van Den Berg but wasn’t at all familiar with her work. Turned out to be a good purchase, as this was a very strong collection of short stories!

Most of them play with the idea of masks, hiding your true self, pretending to be someone else, putting on a front, and that’s the only reason I didn’t rate it higher. I was reading roughly one a day and in the end (though the last story was incredible) I wanted a little more variety in theme. 

A lot of the characters in these stories are unsatisfied with their lives in some way. They’re stuck in marriages which have hit a wall, dead end jobs, cycles of poverty or misery. But Van Den Berg isn’t interested in giving them any relief from their trials - there’s a definite pessimistic tone throughout, intensified by a hefty dose of mystery/strangeness. 

My favourite story was the last one, Isle of Youth, where a woman wanting to escape her dying marriage agrees to impersonate her twin sister for a few days while she embarks on an affair. But it turns out her sister’s life is darker than she imagined, and she finds herself out of her depth. 

I also loved Antarctica, where a woman travels to the ends of the earth to try to come to terms with her brother’s death at a research station. Opa-Locka was another strong one, where two down-on-their-luck private investigators come up against a baffling dead end in the case they’re working. 

I’d recommend this collection if you’re looking for something a little gritty, with strong characterisation (the stories are all fairly long so the character work is great) and strong, clear prose!