Alison MacLeod has written three novels, one of which was longlisted for the Man Booker Prize for Fiction in 2013. The reason for pointing this out is that novels and short stories involve different skills. In this collection MacLeod demonstrates a talent for and assurance in the short form that make the stories a joy to read. All the Beloved Ghosts' opening piece, The Thaw, about a tragedy that follows an unexpected awakening, sets the collection's theme of joy, sorrow and the absurd that overlap in the lives of all the characters. The Heart of Denis Noble finds a heart surgeon being propelled back 50 years, to his student days, in the hours before he receives a heart transplant. We Are Methodists sees a Gulf War veteran turned plumber reveal to a client the things he can't even tell his girlfriend. With only one story that strays beyond the surety of its companions, this is an exceptionally accomplished collection, well worth discovering.
