East Anglia with
Marigolds, poppies, summer dresses, ice cream, Norfolk shores, summer houses, family feuds.

Young marriage in the 80s in Norwich, a society that changes, men who are good-for-nothing, bittersweet nostalgia.

Chance meetings, model airplanes and scattered toys. Long summer mornings, hazy afternoons, saltry evenings, the strange sadness of the last days of summer holidays, caravans and camp sites.

The unfortunate, the ones in need,
80s and 90s nostalgia, the shadows of the past hanging heavy over what should have been 'relaxing holidays'

The writing is beautiful in its simplicity but the problem is the dialogue. Although sparse, it is often full of uneccesary swearing and the characters in the stories may be ordinary people but this doesn't mean that they have to be cardboard material which is unfortunately the case here. The women, in particular, are almost abominable.

In my opinion, although this collection has its moments, it lacked direction and in the end, I would characterize it as 'forgettable'.

Many thanks to Salt Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Poppyland is a collection of short stories which open a window into the ordinary lives of inhabitants in the Norfolk area of England. The back of the book, describes it as 'most of the people in Poppyland are watching their lives begin to blur at the margins'. This accurately portrays the way I feel about these stories, 'blur' being a good word to explain the slight shifts that occur in each story.

Each story sets a scene, a young family on holiday with their in-laws, a new relationship on the edges of town, exploring the changing world of retailing, etc. Some are short, a few days and others cover 20-25 years, but all involve a deep focused examination of humanity. Largely the stories are not plot driven, but delve into the lives of a family or a couple of different people thrown together by choice or circumstance and then with a slight twist in events will analyse the resulting decisions and outcomes.

I am not sure how long the stories have been compiled over, but they seem to cover an expanse from the 1990s to current day and explore very contemporary themes.

Reading the first story, I wasn't sure what to expect. I have not read DJ Taylor previously. Poppyland is the story of Danny, his wife Marigold, their young toddler and Marigold's parents who are on holidays together near the beach. It explores all the tensions present in such trips, the tight relationship between parents and adult children, the desire to restrain the young child, while adored, from being too tired or over wrought and the tension in day trips. Underlining these constant constraints is the personalities of each of the characters, which demand tolerance.

Just as I was starting to immerse in the characters and the decision that the young family were wrestling, the holiday ends. A few words between each of the parties, and the decision is made and the story concludes. It was well done, but I was caught off guard. It felt like the story was just beginning but here I was at the end.

The other stories are similar, not in content, but that quick change of pace, decision or perspective and then it is concluding. Each of them evoking similar feelings. I am investing in the situation, place and characters, and will be just commencing to form understanding of their motivations and then just as they make a decision, the story concludes. Particularly the third story, 'Over at Bacton', I really wanted to understand more, and perhaps there is no more to understand but I felt a slight sadness at each ending.

None of this is to say that the stories are not good, they are really beautiful, contextual and establish such a footing that I have a sense for and understanding of these characters in the few pages of each of the short stories, than some books achieve in an entire novel. So after 10 or so pages I really was not ready to leave them behind. And it is quite interesting, the feelings of the characters are displayed, but it is very subtle, perhaps in that English way where you do not overly gush about them.

And the descriptions are exquisite, and with a few sentences Taylor leaves you with expansive imagery and that speaks not only to the place, but to the personality of the people.

Overall, I really enjoyed these stories. Many thanks to #NetGalley and Salt for allowing me to read this pre-release copy.

Stories were well-written and held my interest. Great addition to the author's work

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for this ARC in exchange for an honest review.

DJ Taylor has twice been longlisted for the Booker (in 1998 when the longlist was a less distinct concept, and in 2011) and also won the Whitbread (now Costa) Biography award in 2003 for his biography of George Orwell.

This when published in June will I think be his third published short story collection - very much in the style of its predecessor “Stewkey Blues”, also published by the North Norfolk (Cromer) based small press – Salt.

And so much of my review from that collection easily transfers to this.

It is a collection which ranges:

Over time (from the 1970s of the author’s late childhood/youth right up to the near present day – one story in particular – the excellent Annie Prioux influenced “Moving On” itself goes from 1983 to 2007); across Norfolk (this time from Hunstanton on the West Coast to Sea Palling on the East Coast, and from Cromer in the North to Methwold in the South, and with a particular concentration on the various postcodes and districts of Norwich – again “Moving On” ranges all over Norwich and the surrounding areas as its follow a family over their various habitations) and across social class (from the Oxford-aspiring private school educated “elite” of Norwich, the denizens of the rougher parts of Norwich and Norfolk, and the urban middle class either relocating to, having a second home in or simply vacationing in the county).

A particular repeating theme this time seems to be traders: “At Mr McAllisters” is set in a Norwich toy/model aircraft shop, “Drowning in Hunny” in a seafront shop for holiday-makers and “In the Land of Grey and Pink” on a Norwich market stall. All three businesses are going through a time of uncertainty and change and this fits the wider sense of wistfulness and melancholia that permeates this collection like the last.

The author called his previous collection a love letter to Norfolk and (just as I said there) that is my birth county, location of almost all my extended family and location of my second home – it is one I found naturally interesting despite (again repeating myself) as much as Norfolk is very much home, short stories as a literary form being an alien territory for me.

Note that this collection ends with two stories: “Agency” set in a New York literary agency and “Out of Season” set pre-WWII in a French beach resort hotel – and even though both feature an English author (the first as narrator and the second as side-character), they seemed to be out of place in the context of the wider collection, and meant the excellent collection ended on a slight down note.