Before this collection of short stories, I have to admit that I hadn’t read anything by Bridget O’Connor. This collection is truly amazing. You won’t come across a variety of characters that are as outrageous, funny, slightly unhinged, over the top romantic or narcissistic anywhere else. All you have to do is look at the different titles of the story to figure out what to expect. O’Connor was a true observer of human nature and wrote about it in a wicked, funny and engaging way. Enjoy it

The stories allow you to peer into these oddly formed lives, some float loose and some are deeply grounded in a dismal London or Irish small town. Such contrast conveys the split sense felt by those who have been pulled from their roots by London in one way or another. It’s a book you could revisit time and time again.

Thank you to the publishers for this gorgeous collection of short stories. These are beautifully written, at times they will make you laugh out loud but at other times they have the power to break your heart. After reading the book I thought a night out with Bridget would have been a complete hoot, I was sure I could relax and laugh in her company which I can't say I've ever felt before after reading a selection of short stories from an author I'd never met. Whilst it is no longer possible to meet her I feel it would certainly be worth investing in any backlist! Which I think I would enjoy reading over a drink or two in great company! Very happy to recommend.

This is a collection of totally engrossing short stories that launch you into people's chaotic, bizarre or humdrum lives from the first sentence. O'Connor seems to drop you right in the middle of scenarios - no words are wasted on build-up. In fact, most of the time no words are wasted at all. And it's impressive how so much is said with so few of them. The stories feel like they tear away the surface appearances of people's lives and characters to reveal the darker, more unpleasant realities beneath. O'Connor uses a calm, measured tone to describe appalling scenarios and they are all the more striking as a result. There's a sad sense of waste, that people are doing so little with their time and that life is so limited. In Love Jobs, a man taking a friend's dog for a walk ends up trapped in a surreal nightmare involving a botched mugging and a dead pet. In Plastered, a lonely and awkward man realises that having an injury does wonders for his social life because people suddenly look out for him. "My luck held out because, actually, I did have a cracked femur." Like most of the stories, it has a great first line: "My name's Tony Wornel, to cut a long story short." In Heavy Petting, we see a young woman desperately trying to hold onto her sanity - and protect Godfrey the pet goldfish - amid the spiralling chaos of her family. Her sister is increasingly dependent on drugs, her dealer "a slice of shadow, a stripe of Adidas in the crack of a cab". Meanwhile her mother is, inexplicably, making disgusting versions of "soup". She details one recipe to her new pet mouse: "Vanilla essence obviously, stupid mouse, ha ha ha fluff! One cornflake, leather thong...' The story After a Dance is a depiction of unfulfilled, unconnected sex that probably speaks to way too many women. The woman's realisation that there are fancy sheets in a drawer but, instead, she got a stained mattress and a blanket sums up the experience: "So, she was not good enough for sheets." Harp is another good one, a hyper monologue from a thief. Again, there's a great first line: "I didn't take his Reeboks, somebody else will get his Reeboks, it was the harp I was after, a friggin harp." In Kissing Time, a young woman is panicking because she's going to lose her teeth and then no one will kiss her. "The gums were receding, going nowhere fast." The writing is excellent. O'Connor has a way of putting things so that they stay in your mind for some time after reading. In all of them, there's a sense of people flailing around with no real idea of how to live their lives or even of how they want to live their lives. Everything feels out of control. As another review put it, the stories are full of people who are living on the edges of their own lives.

'After a Dance: Selected Stories' by Bridget O'Connor is a collection of short stories from a great storyteller of our times. This short novel has 15 short stories in that display all kinds of life. "In After A Dance, we meet a selection of O'Connor's most memorable characters often living on the margin of their own from the anonymous thief set on an unusual prize to the hungover best man clinging to what he's lost, to the unrepentant gold-digger who always comes out on top. From unravelling narcissists to melancholy romantics all human life is here - at its best and at its delightful worst." These stories are well written and you feel a range of emotions reading them, from laughter to sadness and everything in between. A lot of these stories stay with you after reading them and show what a great voice Bridget O'Connor had. Recommended for fans of contemporary literature and short stories.