Discover a classic short story writer whose sharp, gritty, and stylish stories encapsulated 90s London.

‘Think Irvine Welsh meets Edna O’Brien.’ The Times
‘A storytelling genius before her time’ The Irish Times
‘Wickedly funny, stylishly written’ Patrick McCabe
‘Some of the wildest, arresting, just plain brilliant short stories I've read in a long time’ Roddy Doyle
‘Every O’Connor story is a performance, a live fight with time and decay, disgust and the human body’ Martina Evans

Bridget O’Connor was one of the great talents of her generation. She had a voice that was viscerally funny and an eye for both the glaring reality and the absurdity of the everyday.

In After a Dance, a newly compiled collection of her finest work, we meet a selection of her most memorable characters: dark, cruel, lonely, people living on the margins of their own lives. From unravelling narcissists to melancholy romantics, male villains to monstrous women, all human life is here — at its best and at its delightful worst.

This visceral and unforgettable collection is a moment of celebration that will make readers wonder how they ever overlooked Bridget O’Connor.