A much hyped collection that possibly suffered from my overly high expectations. Don’t get me wrong, very enjoyable, I just found myself wanting a bit more depth from some of the stories. This collection is all about women and the expectations placed on them, how they are perceived, and there are some truly excellent stories in here. I also appreciated that a good chunk of them are set in and around Newcastle, I always love the familiarity!

.

Through these stories Danielle Pender explores themes of motherhood, women at work, friendship, sexuality, and relationships both familial and romantic. We see messy mother-daughter relationships that don’t get better with age, even messier age-gap relationships which in hindsight were even more terrible than they were at the time, extramarital affairs, the trauma of losing your best friend to a car accident as a teenager and more.

.

My favourites in the collection were all quite different to be honest! There was Bar Italia, where a woman subverts power dynamics with her affairs, causing one man to throw the funniest temper tantrum ever when he realises he holds none of the power here. Then Paper Dolls, which is the one mentioned above where a teenage girl loses her best friend to a car accident. This one was tragic; Pender does a great job of showing how intense everything already feels as a teenager, then how something so traumatic affects a 16 year old girl.

.

But my absolute favourite was Junction 64, set in a Burger King at Washington Services. This was equal parts hilarious and unsettling. Pender absolutely nails the type of ‘lad’ you encounter all too often up here, the awful way their attention makes you feel, how quickly they can turn violent and unpredictable. The atmosphere of someone at work taking a dislike to you was palpable - the main character overthinks everything she says to him for fear of provoking him, but to no avail. There was also a hint of queer desire which I wish was explored more, although simultaneously enjoyed it being just there in the background. Just so much going on in this story and I loved it all!

.

Overall a solid collection!