WINNER OF THE 2022 REFLEX PRESS NOVELLA AWARD

Through a series of vignettes, the nameless female narrator of Quotidian revisits the rooms of her past to reconcile the malcontent she experiences as a mother, wife and homemaker. Unearthing repressed disappointments, desires, fears and expectations, she begins piecing together, in an intimate and honest narrative, her perceived ordinary, inconsequential life. In doing so, she becomes increasingly estranged from her spouse and her invisible friend, Miss C. When her life begins to spiral into free fall, the narrator, despite struggling to maintain normalcy, toys briefly with a sham flirtation before salvation arrives in the unlikely form of a homeless musician.

Praise for Quotidian

‘The rooms the woman narrator of Quotidian occupies are varied: menacing, lonely, melancholic, and sensuous. In stark, tender, concise, and beautiful prose, we witness an originally told, gripping self-excavation.’
—Nuala O’Connor, author of Nora: A Love Story of Nora Barnacle and James Joyce

‘Intriguing, textured and imaginative, with sentences as beautiful as strings of polished beads.’
—Martina Devlin, author of Edith: A Novel

‘An original, scrolling mosaic of a novel in which the beautiful and dangerous details of a lived life are carefully laid before the reader.’
—Mike McCormack, author of Solar Bones

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WINNER OF THE 2021 REFLEX PRESS NOVELLA AWARD

A Life in Chameleons recounts the queer and fascinating life of Leopoldo Fregoli, an Italian quick-change artist known as ‘The Chameleon’. Fregoli is born just before cinema first jerks into motion and lives in constant fast-forward. A Life in Chameleons stages Fregoli’s story as the moving image of a life.

Fregoli’s daring feats of drag entangle him with the Lumière brothers, the serpentine dancer Loïe Fuller, the duelling actresses Sarah Bernhardt and Eleonora Duse, his stage double (and lover) Romolo, and the mad futurist F.T. Marinetti. As Fregoli changes himself into them, the narrative splices new forms together; with every jump cut, he is a new actress. But the only women in the life of Fregoli, really, are the ones he becomes himself. When women like Fregoli’s wife, Velia, begin to ask their own questions about becoming, he can offer them nothing more than empty dresses and hapless jokes. Both a light waltz among the extravagant characters of early cinema and a queer feminist slant on life-writing, A Life in Chameleons is a sort of biography written in film strips.

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Rachel is ten years old when a dog is rocketed into space. When she is sixteen, the first female astronaut orbits the Earth. At seventeen, she falls in love with Tommy. But Rachel and Tommy’s love is not written in those distant stars. Facing disapproval and uncertainty, they are forced apart.

Half a century later, they cross paths in a hotel bar and are confronted with a lifetime of what-ifs. Rachel’s life of social conformity has brought her the joys and heartbreaks of motherhood. Tommy’s marriage into high society has made him the most famous artist of a generation. But what if they had never given up on their dreams of adventure? Is what they gained apart worth as much as what they might have had together?

At the Bottom of the Stairs is a story of female space explorers and climbing trees, of loving the life you didn’t lead and learning to love the one you did.

Praise for At the Bottom of the Stairs

Full of wisdom, beauty and skill, Banks creates a powerful story that pierces the soul.
—FJ Morris, author of This Is (Not About) David Bowie

At the Bottom of the Stairs is a genuinely touching book and a pleasure to read.
—Gaynor Jones, author of Among These Animals

A love letter to language, such is the quality of Banks’ prose.
—Michael Loveday, author of Unlocking the Novella-in-Flash and Three Men on the Edge

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In 1982, the year of the Falklands War, three naïve and self-absorbed students move to the dystopic Lovelace Flats and become unwittingly embroiled in a series of deaths. Petra, Woody, and Stan know the flats are run-down and disreputable, but the year starts with a cold winter, and underfloor heating is included in the rent — as if the flats were built directly over the firepits of hell.

Praise for Lovelace Flats

A complex, ambitious, and deeply impressive novella, Lovelace Flats has real charm as well as an edge. Jupiter Jones builds a rich story-world from vivid settings, and her ensemble cast is a 1980s society in microcosm.
—Michael Loveday, author of Unlocking the Novella-in-Flash

Jupiter Jones is that rare thing — a writer with a voice entirely, unmistakably her own. In darkly comic prose, packed full of startling linguistic brio, Lovelace Flats transports us to the concrete walkways and landings of the 1980s inner-city flats. A tautly plotted story building to a terrifying climax.
—David Rhymes, author of The Last Days of the Union

In this novella, Jupiter Jones achieves a perfect balance of tension and humour. Each character, whether central or peripheral, is intricately drawn — complex, surprising, often vulnerable. I loved it.
—Johanna Robinson, author of Homing

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An Approach to Black traces the fate of Finnish artist Anna S. and her legacy. It’s the late nineteenth century, and Anna is married to Eino, another artist. Eino gains fame and recognition for his idyllic evocations of family life. Anna, meanwhile, goes mad and is confined to an institution.

In present-day London, two people are driven to try and understand Anna: a young artist named Jonathan, who is descended from Anna and Eino, and retired Finnish academic Emma, who is writing a book about her. Through their quest, An Approach to Black explores questions of female agency and creativity, as well as desire and madness.

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"A straw man hung above my door like a ward of protection. Really it was a lure to charm my dead husband back. But it, like my other delusions and lies, drew lightning."

Ten years after the death of her husband, Rosa struggles to move on and takes solace in rituals and superstition. Sol, a young fisherman, braves the sea to prove himself to an absent father. As a storm rips through the small community, disaster lays bare old secrets. Rosa and Sol’s lives tangle in tragic circumstances, forcing them to face the truth about themselves and the ones they loved.

Straw Gods is the debut novella-in-flash from Tom O’Brien, a heart-wrenching drama both moving and exhilarating, perceptively exploring the effects of grief and the lasting bonds of family and friendship.

Reviews

Straw Gods is a lyrical, fierce exploration of the dance of grief. O’Brien brings psychological depth to the characters with his understanding of the tricks of heart and minds that carry those who suffer. The beautiful writing will sweep you along the ebb and flow of pain, regret, yearning and ultimately self-knowledge. Unmissable.
—Stephanie Carty, Three Sisters of Stone

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