'Unsettling, unpredictable, and brilliant' Roddy Doyle
'In sumptuous and evocative prose, Sheila Armstrong writes stories that are unnerving and unsettling. Stories which make you go, wait, wait, what was that? ' Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground
On a boat offshore, a fisherman guts a mackerel as he anxiously awaits a midnight rendezvous.
Villagers, one by one, disappear into a sinkhole beneath a yew tree.
A nameless girl is taped, bound and put on display in a countryside market.
A man returning home following the death of his mother finds something disturbing among her personal effects.
A dazzling and disquieting collection of stories, how to gut a fish places the bizarre beside the everyday and then elegantly and expertly blurs the lines. An exciting new Irish writer whose sharp and lyrical prose unsettles and astounds in equal measure, Sheila Armstrong's exquisitely provocative stories carve their way into your mind and take hold.
'Dark, devilishly well written and full of atmosphere, How to Gut a Fish is one of the most original and affecting short story collections I've read in years' Jan Carson, author of The Fire Starters
Review
The stories in this collection are unsettling, unpredictable, and brilliant -- Roddy Doyle
In sumptuous and evocative prose, Sheila Armstrong writes stories that are unnerving and unsettling. Stories which make you go, wait, wait, what was that? - Claire Fuller, author of Unsettled Ground
Armstrong's short stories make tremendously good company, each one transported me to a place I'd never been before. Dark, devilishly well written and full of atmosphere, How to Gut a Fish is one of the most original and affecting short story collections I've read in years. - Jan Carson, author of Malcolm Orange Disappears
Do you know when you read a sentence that is so good, it does weird things to your insides? You kind of shudder with satisfaction and hope for more. Well, I am addicted to good sentences, and Sheila Armstrong is my dealer. The stories in How to Gut a Fish are gorgeously weird, inspiring curiosity both on and off the page. If you're anything like me, they will send you into a fit of ferocious googling: What is star jelly? How old is the moon? The story titles are works of art in themselves. This is the good stuff. Hook it to my veins. - Louise Nealon, author of Snowflake
This exquisitely wrought collection made me feel as if I were inhabiting another realm: sensuous, tactile, beautiful and disturbing. Sheila Armstrong's hypnotic prose has a haunting, lingering, dreamlike effect. - Lisa Harding, author of Bright Burning Things
It's not often I open a book to find prose this exciting, original and frankly envy-inducing. Line by line, these stories set a series of small fires in my head, and they're still burning - Zoe Gilbert, author of Folk
I loved it. I found the stories completely hypnotic and strange. (Armstrong) has a meditative and mesmerising voice, and her description of everyday life is perceptive and profound. - Megan Bradbury, author of Everyone is Watching
Book Description
The debut short story collection from Sheila Armstrong, a strikingly original new voice in fiction
About the Author
Sheila Armstrong is a writer and editor from the north-west of Ireland. Her stories have featured in gorse,Best European Fiction 2019 and Stinging Fly. This is her first collection of fiction.
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