Sunday Short: Love by Josephine Rowe

Josephine Rowe's new collection came out this week and I'm taking the excuse to throw back to her first, How a Moth Becomes a Boat, released in 2009, with the short story, Love. Rowe's ability to capture a moment of time but a whole history in a character is almost uncanny, and her unlikely and unexpected descriptions are never lacking. (Sparrowy chest and crooked teeth are close to being some of my favourite descriptors in recent writing.) She's immensely talented, and this short is a reflection of the whole collection, one filled with a slew of unnamed characters that she fills out with immense detail, attributes and flaws - a feat in itself given how short each story is. It's a pretty glorious read, and Love is one that you can read for free over on her website.