Delighted to see this collection appear, as I've been following Miriam Burke's writing for years.

I love that we can finally get a fuller grasp of Burke's unique voice. These are tales of the everyday, but so many different everydays – the breadth of lives touched upon, convincingly, is extraordinary.

With each story you enter a new, intimate world. That world paints itself without effort around you as you move into these others' lives. To me, the prose has a restrained but very satisfying cadence, both in the sentences that make up a story, and in the arc of each story as a whole. The pieces themselves are quite brief; they finish when they should, but I find that they linger after.

What strikes me each time is the empathy: we meet the protagonists at their level. Even when their actions seem objectively bad, I can still feel with them. The stories are not so much judgment-free as willing to listen and understand.

These are tales of surviving. I highly recommend them.

‘I couldn’t sleep that night; our conversation was like a trapped bird flying around inside my head. The next morning, I texted to say I wouldn’t be coming back. I lied about having to return to my country to nurse a sick relative. I couldn’t bear to see my story mirrored in his eyes, and to see what we never had. I knew he’d understand.’

Women and Love is a thought-provoking collection of seventeen tightly woven tales about the power of love, all its trials and complications, and the shattered lives it can leave in its wake.

The stories explore a huge variety of sorts of love surrounding women in wildly differing settings, and features an unforgettable cast including GPs, burglars, inmates, emigrant cleaners, carers, young professionals, and many more. Navigating heavy themes, with a particular focus on LGBTQ+ experiences, including gender dysphoria and searching for a sperm donor, the stories leave the reader burning with indignation, full of empathy and wonder.

A writer from the west of Ireland, Miriam Burke’s short stories have been widely published in anthologies and journals. She has a PhD in Psychology, and before becoming a writer she worked for many years as a Clinical Psychologist in London hospitals and GP practices. Women and Love is her debut collection.