Review:
Zero Hours on the Boulevard: Tales of Independence and Belonging
Edited by Alexandra Büchler and Alison Evans
From Planet 235

Planet 234

Frances Gapper reviews
Zero Hours on the Boulevard: Tales of Independence and Belonging
Edited by Alexandra Büchler and Alison Evan

Edited by Alexandra Büchler and Alison Evan

Parthian £8.99

The stories in this excellent international anthology take varied approaches to its twin themes. We’re shown many ways in which people can belong or often not belong, be ousted or dispossessed, suffer persecution, struggle for change or retreat into illusions, be helplessly swept along or forced to accept the status quo. The tales are prefaced by Hanan Issa’s fine poem about the complexities of belonging, ‘Lands of Mine’, which melds glimpses of the poet’s two homelands, Iraq and Wales.

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About the author

Frances Gapper’s story collections are In the Wild Wood (2017), The Tiny Key (2009) and Absent Kisses (2002). Her story ‘Farmer’s Wife’ appears in Eleven Stories, published by Desperate Literature (Madrid, 2019).