‘I thought maybe Jane was jealous of the dead girl but I didn’t know why. I guess she thought she was like her. As if we were all unidentified bodies. Or nameless and ignorant like dogs on the beach.’
The Dogs on the Beach & Other Stories is a collection of nine short stories about love, life and death which begin and end at the beach. These stories, set mainly in and around Liverpool, are dark, comical and anecdotal, portraying characters who struggle to communicate with each other while looking for their own place in the world. Written through the eyes of several individuals, these vivid depictions of human life blend together comedy and tragedy.
A young couple make a disturbing discovery on the beach; a young boy believes his father has made friends with the devil; the memory of an old sea captain brings back the memories of the past; a man loses his sight as he tries to remember fishing on the lake; coffee before a funeral leads to an argument over eye colour; a break-up leads to a chance meeting with a girl in the sea who looks strangely familiar.
The Stories:
- The Dogs on the Beach
- The Devil and My Dad
- Canal Turn
- She Was A Fan of Edward G. Robinson
- The Sea Captain
- Remember the Lake
- Let’s All Be There
- Green Eyes
- Tell Me It Was Real. Tell Me It Happened
The Devil and My Dad was published in Open Pen magazine, Let’s All Be There was published by Ellipsis Zine, Remember the Lake was Runner Up in the University of Liverpool Short StoryCompetition 2022, Green Eyes was longlisted for the Sunderland Short Story Award 2019 and the Cambridge Short Story Prize 2021.
