'A gripping, wonderfully understated book that oozes humanity, emotion and humour.' Guardian

Shortlisted for the Edge Hill Prize 2019

Longlisted for the Gordon Burn Prize 2019

Longlisted for the Sunday Times Audible Short Story Award 2019

A Book of the Year in the Guardian, The White Review, Observer, New Statesman, TLS.

Set in the author's native Belfast, the ten stories in Sweet Home lay bare the heartbreak and quiet tragedies that run under the surface of everyday lives. A lonely woman is fascinated by her niqab-wearing neighbours; a middle-aged teacher becomes obsessed with a young Gaelic football player; and an employer covers for his two employees caught having sex in a public toilet.

Wendy Erskine offers perfectly formed, brilliantly observed portraits of people trying to carve out a life for themselves, all the while being buffeted by the loss, grief and regret that come their way. Warm, compassionate and funny, Sweet Home captures life in contemporary East Belfast, in all of its forms.

'With skill and style, Erskine unpicks the underlying complexity of ordinary lives, the unexpected intricacy of ordinary situations.' Sara Baume

'A collection of deft, depth-charged short stories.' Paul Muldoon, TLS

'Wendy Erskine's first collection, Sweet Home . . . is every bit as good as her early stories in the always astute Stinging Fly magazine promised.' Jon McGregor, New Statesman

'I was drawn to the depth and soul of Wendy Erskine's characters.' Nicole Flattery

'Whip-smart and witty and tender and wry . . . Erskine's pitch-perfect dialogue, attuned to the ways people speak, and to what they let slip without meaning to, is a joy.' Lucy Caldwell

'Arrestingly original . . . [Erskine] writes about the magic, ferocity and surrealism of contemporary Protestant Belfast.' David Keenan, Guardian

Sweet Home by Wendy Erskine is a short story collection that everyone should investigate