The second in a series of 3-in-1 short story collections presents half a dozen stories by each author that are linked through shared characters, settings, or themes. Starting in a former mining village in County Durham in the last year of Thatcher’s government, the series moves through the cosmetically rebuilt landscape of northeast England. Each sequence interlinks differently to the next: in Anne Stevenson’s series, different accounts of a town’s demise contradict and question the notion of community; in Polly Clark’s contribution dark secrets crowd in around each character as they attempt to flee; and in Fiona Ritchie Walker’s sequence, the past is encased within the everyday objects her characters covet and hoard.