Married Love - Tessa Hadley

This collection of powerful and intriguing short stories is superbly well written - most of the stories had at least one moment that made me linger over it. Many of these were because of the clarity with which an insightful observation was described: "He knew how passionately she succumbed to the roles she dreamed up for herself. She won't be able to get out of this one, he thought. She can't stop now.", "And I thought: I will always be the tame one, watching while she risks everything. I believed then that this meant I would be safe at least.", or "This tension of thwarted longing - even when they were on their own and could do whatever they liked - was somehow the whole character of their relationship. Sheila was always frantic for the next thing she didn't have from Neil; the sensation was as painful as wire spooled taut in her chest. She wondered sometimes what would become of them if the spool gave way and the tension slackened."

This collection displayed the precision and economy of the best short story writing, particularly in resonant moments like the mother unblocking a sink while reminiscing about her absent soldier son and wondering about the things he's seen in Afghanistan, when "hearing the boy flush the toilet in the cubicle behind her, she scooped up the nasty mess with some paper towels and dropped it into the black bag she had with her for rubbish, so that he would not have to see it." Similarly, in several of the stories the most significant events are not directly described - an illicit encounter where "their knees touched" sets the reader wondering about the subsequent baby's "mysterious black baby hair". Even in the most romantic story, the ultimate realisation of love is only hinted at (beautifully - "He knows he ought to marry Ellen Pearson and get a house full of furniture. But he can't. He won't.") and left to unfold 'offstage', but the spite and scorn that the central character has previously tried to arm himself with was described in detail. I admired this collection immensely but did not love it; the short story form seems to lend itself to a particular, slightly bleak, view of human relationships, which I found a little sad.