How Much the Heart Can Hold

• Yasmin Sulaiman
• 1 November 2016

Short story collection is a pleasingly mixed bag

This collection of short stories is far from the mush-fest its title suggests. Instead, it's a commendably varied series of commissions from publishers Sceptre, who are using How Much the Heart Can Hold as a platform for the Sceptre Short Story Competition (the winner gets a cash prize and their story published in the paperback edition).

Rowan Hisayo Buchanan's opener 'Before it Disappears' is a stark, unromantic snapshot of a young marriage coming to its end, and Bernadine Evaristo's 'The Human World' closes with an expansive, sad look at the world's ills.

But its strongest entries are sandwiched in the middle. 'Codas' by Carys Bray (A Song for Issy Bradley, The Museum of You) is a deeply touching look at family love across generations; 'Magdala, Who Slips' from Donal Ryan (The Spinning Heart) is a haunting take on obsession; and 'White Wine' by Nikesh Shukla – editor of the impressive collection, The Good Immigrant – is a wonderfully nuanced snapshot of a man watching his little sister wake up to the realities of racism in modern Britain.

Out Thu 3 Nov, from Sceptre