Love in the Time of Chaos

Shortlisted for the Edge Hill Short Story Prize 2023, this compelling collection illustrates how the short story is an apt genre to represent complex issues and perceptions a quarter-century after the Good Friday Agreement. While Greater Belfast is represented by protagonists ranging from Catholic members of the police to customs officials hampered in their jobs by mobs, non-Irish make an appearance too as they face war in Ukraine. As transgenerational trauma, drugs, and Brexit hit protagonists of different walks of life, Jenkinson’s style mixes empathy with striking similes and dry humor.