Twenty-six Degrees

by Rebeccah Giltrow

In this collection of short stories, 26 people share aspects of their lives which all connect, forming a tangled web that spans across the decades. Events which happened years ago can affect the present and future. Taking place over a period of 50 years, each character lets us glimpse into their lives, and through their eyes we learn about many others. Jason discovers his wife has had an affair, and fuelled by anger and alcohol, he drunkenly crashes his car killing Liam and Warren's father. Meanwhile, in another part of town, in another year Melanie is dealing with the chaos that a Bank Holiday brings to a supermarket, unaware that her daughter, Freya, has landed herself in some serious trouble. In a different decade Zoë and Shane are choosing names for their twins, and Queenie is dreaming of running away with the lead singer of her favourite band. Fast-forward a few years into the future to questionable television psychic, Larry, receiving a message from Ella from beyond the grave, and Christine finding out that her dead husband had been keeping secrets from her. To what extent do the actions of others influence our own journey?

304 pages, Paperback

First published February 7, 2014

About the author

Rebeccah was born an indeterminate number of years ago, in an area of England. She is a writer by trade, with skills of varying degrees in knitting, baking, EFL teaching, performing, photography, dog-walking, sleeping, painting, and procrastinating.

Rebeccah has been a writer since she can remember, but after graduation from University of Essex in 2005 with B.A. (hons) English Language & Literature, and again in 2008 with M.A. Literature: Creative Writing, she decided to take the craft more seriously. Rebeccah honed her writing skills and became an avid follower of the Oulipo.

Since graduating from university, Rebeccah has written a collection of 26 lipogrammatic short stories, Betwixt The Cup and The Lip, a collection of 12 Christmas stories, Twelve Days of Krista May Rose, and a full length novel, Lexa Wright's Dating Sights. Excerpts of these can be found on her blog. She is currently writing her second novel, Here We Find Ray, as part of the NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) challenge.

As well as writing, she regularly performs at the New Words, Fresh Voices open mic night at The Seagull Theatre in Lowestoft, where she reads her poetry and short stories.

When she's not writing, Rebeccah enjoys producing visual art, and occasionally takes photos, paints pictures, and makes collages. Her work has been shown at The Halesworth Gallery, The Ferini Gallery, and Lowestoft Arts Centre.

Reviews

[Nastasya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was prepared to be impressed by this book, and it did not disappoint. Rebeccah Giltrow bravely takes on twenty-six different perspectives, a portion of them representing rather unpleasant characters. She reveals various facets of them, however, so readers see tantalising depths and intriguing connections. I would have liked to know even more, and I suspect that when I read it again, I'll spot even more clues which she has cleverly hidden. A fascinating read!