Zoë Fairbairns’ stories, set mainly in London and its more-or-less fashionable suburbs, occupy the spaces between words and actions, beliefs and realities. A 40-year-old woman who has never had children and never wanted to, revisits her decision; a little girl wonders why she attends a school run by a religion that neither she nor her parents belong to; 50-something lefties discover things that they might have preferred not to know about their pensions; a woman goes to meet her partner’s new love, and tries to be friendly. The collection also includes an autobiographical piece reviewing the author’s membership of a 1970s women’s writing group.

Zoë Fairbairns’ novels include Benefits (a feminist classic, re-published by Five Leaves), Closing, Here Today, Stand We At Last, Other Names and Daddy’s Girls. Her short stories have appeared in many anthologies and have been broadcast on BBC Radio 4. She lives in London and works for a TV facilities company, subtitling programmes for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers.