Letters Home

Overview

Martyn Bedford's short stories ask a difficult the question: how do we re-define ourselves in the age of 'post-truth' reasoning, identity politics and social media echo-chambers. What constitutes personal identity, and what can we call 'home', when the places we come from are either no-longer accessible, or not what they claim to be. Informed by Bedford's early career as a thriller writer, these stories read as much like mysteries, waiting to reveal themselves, as literary short stories.

Reviews

Martyn is a multiple award-winning author of children's books, poetry and short fiction. The title story of the collection, Letters Home, was made into a short film, directed by Ronald J. Wright.

"Haunting and intimate portraits of vividly different lives that get under your skin and stay there." —Jeremy Dyson, English author, musician, and screenwriter, who, along with Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Reece Shearsmith, is one of the League of Gentlemen.

"Letters Home is a vivid collection of heartfelt stories, told with vigour and obvious empathy. Bedford conjures up powerful narratives of everyday life which explore pertinent, often contentious, topics including migration and economic disparity with humour and care." —Megan Kenny, Disclaimer Magazine

Author Biography

Martyn Bedford is the author of five novels for adults. His first, Acts of Revision (Bantam Press/Black Swan 1996) won the Yorkshire Post Best First Work Award. His novels since are Exit, Orange & Red, The Houdini Girl, Black Cat, and The Island of Lost Souls. Between them these novels have been translated into 15 languages. He is also the author of two novels for young adults.