Wish I Was Here by Jackie Kay

Wish I Was Here

Jackie Kay

The theme of all these stories is the loss of love and the loneliness which follows. The loss may be because of death or rejection. The relationships can be gay or straight and even mother and child.

I found some of the tales disturbing but there is light relief in the comical incidents. The writing at times speaks so directly to the emotions it is painful.

Extract
Time passed more slowly than ever, and the dark started its long descent into night. There was only an inch of light left in the sky. Hamish scrambled in Don's rucksack for the box of matches. There was a full box. They weren't damp. Don moaned; he cried out in a voice Hamish hardly recognised, a voice distorted by pain. Hamish stroked his loved head. Hamish said,'We are getting through this. There's absolutely no way we are not going to live to tell this story.'
Parallels
  • Why Don't You Stop Talking by Jackie Kay
  • Walking the Dog by Bernard MacLaverty
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Explicit sexual content