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Dara Horn's 'Passover In New Orleans', set during the American Civil War, is another excellent short story. Perhaps this anthology isn't so patchy after all...?

Olga Grushin's 'Exile' in fabulous. It reminds of something from a 1980s Picador, if you know what I mean. So far the best short story in this patchy anthology, by miles.

There's no doubt Nell Freudenberger's 'Where East Meets West' (an elegy to her grandmother, so perhaps also more than a thinly veiled biographical essay) is an accomplished piece of writing. However, in my view it suffers from the same affliction that mars too many American short stories in that it has too many characters ranging over too much time and geography. If you want to write a family saga, write a novel.

Sarah Singleton's 'Casilago's Wife' features some impressive writing, if only I could understand it. I didn't really know what was going on or even what the premise of the story was but somehow it still made for an entertaining read.

Lucy Taylor's 'In The Cave of The Delicate Singers' is powerful fiction. It will be interesting to see if the film adaptation eventuates and, if so, how successful it is.