'These awards-listed, interlinked stories vividly capture the small, rarely spoken moments of our lives that reverberate with meaning, with darkness and with light. An adolescent son and his parents on their annual holiday at a Bournemouth guesthouse become intrigued with the glamour and otherness of an American family from Boston. An adult son and his mother navigate an unnerving relationship based on dependence and ritual. A woman transgresses her husband’s rules and his distaste for parties. A sex-worker empathises with the life of an elderly client. From derelict industrial districts, to a lonely highway diner, to the faded charm of a British seaside resort, these are stories of growing up marginalised and living in working-class England and Australia. Thompson’s writing is so clear and deep and lucid you can see every crumb on the tablecloth, every drop of water on a person’s hair.
'Broken Rules and Other Stories´ nuanced play of character, psychology and language, and its focus on the mysteries we are all involved in when we are out of our depth, exposed to our emotions, our wonders and our longings, marks the emergence of a remarkable new talent.' (Publication summary)
'Barry Lee Thompson's debut short story collection examines the subtle interactions of people who find themselves in situations mostly outside their control.'
'The insistence by so many Australians that we don’t have a society segregated by class has always been blatantly untrue, and the pandemic has only underlined this. Two new titles from small independent Melbourne press Transit Lounge gaze upon Australia’s social strata.' Introduction)
'In perhaps the most tender story in this textured, interconnected collection, an adolescent son spends the summer sunbathing in the backyard and sneaking glances at the paperboy while his working-class, stay-at-home father, who reads detective fiction and likes to ‘figure things out before the endings’, gently attempts to make it known to his son that he can tell him anything.' (Introduction)
'In perhaps the most tender story in this textured, interconnected collection, an adolescent son spends the summer sunbathing in the backyard and sneaking glances at the paperboy while his working-class, stay-at-home father, who reads detective fiction and likes to ‘figure things out before the endings’, gently attempts to make it known to his son that he can tell him anything.' (Introduction)
'The insistence by so many Australians that we don’t have a society segregated by class has always been blatantly untrue, and the pandemic has only underlined this. Two new titles from small independent Melbourne press Transit Lounge gaze upon Australia’s social strata.' Introduction)
'Barry Lee Thompson's debut short story collection examines the subtle interactions of people who find themselves in situations mostly outside their control.'
