The Good Time

‘But we were having such a good time,’ I said. That was all there was, all I could say, whether or not it was enough. ‘Weren’t we? Weren’t we having such a good time?’ The first collection of short stories from the author of The Original A woman suffering an extreme allergic reaction to a yoga mat returns to the UK to give a reading at her estranged best friend’s wedding; a corporate new starter desperately tries to persuade her colleague to accept that his online girlfriend doesn’t exist; a group of student activists stage an artful protest against the demolition of a tower block; a once inseparable friendship group confront the reason they drifted; and a self-taught pianist whose wife is six months pregnant decides she must travel to Warsaw to listen to Chopin’s heart. In The Good Time, Nell Stevens introduces us to characters teetering on the edge of self-knowledge, unveiling the complexities of their inner worlds with empathy and humour. Wry, precise and full of wisdom, these stories ask what it means to have a good time, and what happens when the good times end. 'Stevens is showing herself to be that rare thing: a writer who we can think alongside, even while she’s making things up' Lara Feigel, Guardian