Fragments of life

Kirsty Gunn (Atlantic Books, £15.99)

Fragments of stories, poems, essays notes and thoughts about motherhood, families and friends make up the 326 pages of Kirsty Gunn's 44 Things. Each of the 44 things featured is Kirsty Gunn's response to the life that goes on around her now.

Written over the course of a year during stolen moments away from the chaotic world that inspired them, these delightful reflections are a celebration of home and family.

They also include letters, such as the one that she wrote to her sister when she was diagnosed with breast cancer.

The reflections are all quite different, yet have one thing in common, which is the woman who wrote them.

It's a book in which Kirsty is finding ways of being understood. It's also about privacy and society and the difficulty we all have in making our wishes known, even when moving among members of our own family.

44 Things does not have to be read like a novel, from cover to cover. Readers can open the pages at random, enjoy a short story, a poem or an essay and in doing so, discover that Kirsty is addressing problems they will have encountered, too. A delightful, yet intelligently written little book, which exposes the real life of a popular novelist.

Kirsty Gunn and Tessa Hadley will be discussing their work at the Oxford Literary Festival tomorrow at Christ Church at 6pm. For details, call 0870 343 1001.