Naomi Ishiguro

'Stories that start like delicate webs and finish like unbreakable wire traps' - Neil Gaiman 'Naomi Ishiguro's crystal clear prose delights and intrigues' - Sharlene Teo Characterised by its own brand of pleasingly unsettling magic, Naomi Ishiguro's ESCAPE ROUTES matches the inventiveness of David Mitchell with the fairy-tale allure of Angela Carter. A space-obsessed child conjures up a vortex in his mother's airing cupboard. A musician finds her friendship with a flock of birds opens up unexpected possibilities. A rat catcher, summoned to a decaying royal palace, is plunged into a battle for the throne of a ruined kingdom. Two newlyweds find themselves inhibited by the arrival in their lives of an outsized and watchful stuffed bear. Whether snared in traps artfully laid for them, or those of their own making, the characters in Naomi Ishiguro's delightfully speculative debut collection yearn for freedom and flight, and find their worlds transformed beyond their wildest imaginings.

Escape Routes

Vie di fuga

*An Evening Standard Must Read, Grazia Best Book of 2021 and Independent Debut Not to Miss* 'Beautifully written, this is a book of real hope and connection' Stylist A bittersweet story of coming-of-age in a divided world, in the tradition of TIN MAN or BLACK SWAN GREEN. It's a lonely life for Stan, at a new school that feels more ordeal than fresh start, and at home where he and his mother struggle to break the silence after his father's death. When he encounters fearless, clever Charlie on the local common, all of that begins to change. Charlie's curiosity is infectious, and it is Charlie who teaches Stan, for the first time, to stand on his own two feet. But will their unit of two be strong enough to endure in a world that offers these boys such different prospects? The pair part ways, until their paths cross once again, as adults in London. Now Stan is revelling in all that the city has to offer, while Charlie seems to have hit a brick wall. He needs Stan's help, and above all his friendship, but is Stan really there for the man who once showed him the meaning of loyalty?

Naomi Ishiguro

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