Adult bedtime books don’t come much better than this

Review of The Route Book at Bedtime in The Big Issue in the North

‘Adult bedtime books don’t come much better than this with a series of short stories that explore desire, heartache, misunderstanding and envy. This is the 22nd short story instalment from Route. There’s a first person presence throughout and each story maintains a tranquil tone despite the passions explored. It begins with Pippa Griffin’s tale of teenage infatuation, Crush, a wonderfully evocative story of how when it comes to first loves, rose-tinted spectacles often cloud our emotions long after the original event, sometimes with ghastly consequences. Then there’s Chris Hill’s magnificent depiction of a loveless marriage where there’s no obvious culprit but a road accident causes the couple to confront their differing sensibilities. Regressing to childhood isn’t out of bounds either as Katherine Reed inhabits the world of a young boy coping with the divorce of his parents.

The manner in which each story carries such bountiful emotion over only a few pages makes this an ideal bedtime companion.’

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