Words from a Glass Bubble by Vanessa Gebbie

Tomorrow my virtual book tour goes to the blog of Vanessa Gebbie, writer of her own vivid collection of short stories, Words from a Glass Bubble. I don't have my copy of her book to hand, because my mum took it away and apparently gobbled it up as quickly as I did on my way home from the launch last year, but hasn't yet sent it back. Although it's a year therefore since I read the stories, they are still with me, vivid in image and resonant in voice. Vanessa writes about those on the margins of society - the lads who've missed out, the overlooked shop assistant, the woman looking for her lost son's soul. Her stylistic range is wide - a story like 'The Lych Warmer' sings with the lilt of fairytale, while others are punchy with the thrust of contemporary voices. These are stories which confront the darkness of life, but never without humour, and they're all informed by an overall narrative tone which is feisty and optimistic.