Museum of Shadows and Reflections

Sometimes, we decide to try and live without our shadows. Sometimes we slip into someone else’s and live in their shape for a while. But try as we might, the old shadows linger. They’ve grown dusty, perhaps, brittle and faded, but look there—straggling out behind you and before you—the shadows of every shape you ever were, or once hoped to be. And when a new shape grows too heavy, when it gnaws holes in you or binds you, when your feathers fall to the carpet or the sand drags you underground, all your old shadows are still there… waiting.

A hauntingly powerful new voice in British fiction, this highly anticipated short story collection from Claire Dean showcases fourteen stories of wonder and memory, wind and water, metamorphosis and regret.

Claire Dean’s short stories have been widely published and are included in The Best British Short Stories 2011 & 2014 (Salt). Claire has worked as a bookseller, editor, project manager and lecturer, and is currently researching digital storymaking at Lancaster University. She lives in the north of England with her two sons.