Becoming Someone

Forty-two thought-provoking short stories about identity and reinvention, including the Ilkley Literature Festival prize-winner: humane, wry and full of twists in the tale.

What shapes the way we see ourselves?

An administrator faces forced early retirement. A doctor steps back from a life defined by urgency. A girl begins to understand her sexuality; an older man reconsiders his own. A widow refuses to let past trauma become public property; another honours loss with a final act of defiance.

Partners, parents, lovers and professionals confront the roles they've been handed and decide if that's who they really are. Careers end. Relationships strain. Desire awakens. Beliefs are tested.

Across forty-two playful, poignant and quietly provocative short stories, lives shift at moments of change. Work, love, faith, culture, class. The roles we inherit and the ones we resist. The bodies we live in. The histories we carry.

Must we accept the identity we're given, or can we choose the someone we become?

Written with the insight of a former clinical psychologist, these stories move between laughter and unease, often within a single page. Some land in a few hundred words; others unfold slowly and linger long after the final line, rewarding readers who like to sit with a story rather than rush past it. Queer lives, ageing, grief, faith and class are handled with empathy rather than sentimentality. Readers of Elizabeth Strout, Jackie Kay, Kit de Waal and Claire Keegan will appreciate this collection's quiet precision, perfectly placed twists and characters who feel familiar and real.

Please note: this collection includes a story involving the death of a child.

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"A beautifully crafted exploration of the very real sense of loss." - Mike Gayle, judge, Ilkley Literature Festival (on "Tobacco and Testosterone")

"Every single one of the forty-two stories in Becoming Someone is a hit!" - Stephanie Jane, Literary Flits

"Anyone who loves short stories needs this book in their collection." - Charli Mills, Goodreads

Anne Goodwin's debut novel, Sugar and Snails was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize. Her second novel, Underneath, was published in 2017. Alongside her identity as a writer, she'll admit to being a sociable introvert; recovering psychologist; voracious reader; slugslayer; struggling soprano; and tramper of moors.