I Need You To Be Harold by Peter Adamson

This collection of short stories takes the reader from a mansion in New England to a slum in Colombo, from a crypt in Assisi to a billiards hall in the North of England, from the parched sunlight of the Sahel to the dimly lit bar of a London hotel, and from a picnic on the Berkshire Downs to a confrontation on the streets of Manhattan.

Along the way, we meet a cast of characters that includes George Bernard Shaw, an Antarctic explorer, a pensioner caught up in a protest, a stand-in boyfriend, a couple whose romantic anniversary goes wrong, a middle-aged woman reconciled to being ordinary and a young man convinced he is special.

Includes Sahel, winner of the Royal Society of Literature V S Pritchett Memorial Prize. Other stories in this collection have been shortlisted for the Bridport and H G Wells short story awards.

Paperback. 232 pages.