Five short stories by the novelist and short story writer Polly Samson.A Rose for Paul: A story giving hope to anyone who has to move on from a difficult relationship.The Morning After: A romantic tryst turns sour after an animal rights activist discovers the murderous taste of his lover in the form of her exotic Shatoosh shawl.The Itch: Playing on the idea of 'The Seven Year Itch', this is an unusual story about regeneration and recovery, set to the tale of a coupl...

He followed her eyes skyward to a bird that was falling, turning and turning, like a heart that had leapt free. It fell, and as it did it became a falcon. He was transfixed.Julian's fall begins the moment he sets eyes on Julia.Julia is married and eight years his senior; he is a gifted English student, a life of academia ahead. Ignoring warnings from family and friends, they each give up all they have to be together. Their new life in London offers immense happines...

Quite unlike her fair stepsisters, Lizzie is dark and secretive: 'Just like your father' says her mother. But what was her father like? Photos of him are hidden away; snatches of overheard conversation between her mother and her stepfather deepen the mystery. Only her best friend Savannah - also abandoned by her father when she was a baby - knows what it feels like to wonder, to try and piece together an earlier story. But when events propel Lizzie alone to London she stops wondering and s...

Do you cover up or reveal it all; seek revenge or just reassurance; let the truth be naked as the day or cloaked in a night-time story? The men and women of Polly Samson's debut fiction all have stories to tell, pasts to forget, futures to forge. Manipulative or meek, used or using, all are aware of the power of truth, deception and little white lies to get what they want or sometimes what they deserve. Some are concerned with the economies of speech, those little 'kindnesses' which protec...

In an English seaside town, lovers and children, men and women weave in and out of each other's lives and stories.A mother is tormented by her daughter's tattoo; another only pretends to love her baby. A wife stalks her husband and his new lover; a broken egg through a mailbox tells a story that will not go away; the cat thinks he knows best.Threaded throughout are longings for love and poignant disappointments, surprising pleasures and temptations. Some will fall but some,...

Julia is married and eight years Julian’s senior; he is a gifted English student, a life of academia ahead. Ignoring warnings, they each give up all they have to be together. When Julian hears that his boyhood home is for sale, he sets out to recreate a paradise for his new family. It is only when their daughter Mira becomes terrifyingly ill that it is impossible for Julia to conceal the explosive secret that she has been keeping from him.